DECLARATION OF HEALTH CARE INDEPENDENCE:

Health Care For All

WHEREAS: Over 700,000 Marylanders, including over 100,000 children, have no health insurance and equal numbers of Marylanders have inadequate health coverage and,
WHEREAS: Most Marylanders without health insurance are workers and their families, and the number of the working uninsured is expected to increase significantly over the next decade; and
WHEREAS: The present health care insurance system is increasingly unresponsive to health needs and has taken important medical decisions away from health care professionals and patients and placed them into the hands of insurance company administrators; and
WHEREAS: The present health care insurance system is increasingly bureaucratic and wastefully expensive, with a significant proportion of our health care dollars going to insurance company profits and to corporate overhead and administrative costs, including high salaries, lobbying expenses, marketing, and multiple and needlessly complex claims processing procedures; and
WHEREAS: With the projection of double-digit annual percent increases in health premiums, managed care has not proven itself to be the cure for escalating health costs; and,
WHEREAS: Marylanders strongly support significant change in the health care system; and,
WHEREAS: Narrowly targeted reforms would not fundamentally change a structurally-flawed system; therefore

BE IT RESOLVED: That the undersigned organization joins the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative Education Fund in endorsing a comprehensive health care system which would guarantee quality health care for all Marylanders. This system, Health Care For All, would be administered by and financed through an independent agency governed by health professionals and consumers, and will guarantee for all Marylanders:

The new system will achieve overall cost savings by streamlining health care financing, improving efficiency, expanding preventive care, and reducing overhead and unnecessary insurance company profits.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That the undersigned organization will educate its members and, to the extent that it is able, educate the general public and opinion leaders, about Health Care For All.

Organization ___________________________________________________ No. of Members________
Authorized Signature ___________________________________________________ Date__________
Contact Name_______________________________________________________________________
Address___________________________________________________________________________
City______________________________________________State__________Zip________________
Telephone_________________________________________ Fax_____________________________
E-mail_____________________________________________________________________________

Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative Education Fund, Inc.
2600 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore, MD 21218

410- 235-9000 (phone) 410- 235-8963 (fax) E-Mail: demarco@mdinitiative.org.