Thursday, January 15, 2004
Panel recommends universal health care
The United States must find a way to provide health care coverage to all Americans by 2010 to prevent more unnecessary suffering, death and economic costs to society, the National Academy of Sciences concluded yesterday.
Culminating the most detailed, authoritative examination of the impact of leaving millions of Americans without health insurance, a committee of the academy's prestigious Institute of Medicine (IOM) for the first time formally recommended that the United States guarantee health insurance for every citizen.
"The lack of health insurance for tens of millions of Americans has serious negative consequences and economic costs not only for the uninsured themselves but also for their families, the communities they live in, and the whole country," the 16-member committee concluded, after more than three years of research that produced six reports. "The situation is dire and expected to worsen. The Committee urges Congress and the Administration to act immediately to eliminate this longstanding problem."
The panel sidestepped recommending a specific approach for achieving the highly complex, politically volatile goal. Instead, it issued a "checklist" of five principles it said should guide federal officials, politicians and policymakers in tackling the problem -- and voters in assessing candidates for elected office.
Story.
posted by chris at 1:40 PM
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