Labor Party Challenges Presidential Candidates to Endorse Just Health Care

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 3, 2003
CONTACT: Mark Dudzic
TELEPHONE: 202 234-5190
EMAIL: lp@thelaborparty.org

WASHINGTON, DC: The Labor Party challenged today each of the major Presidential candidates to take an important step toward solving the nation's health care crisis by adopting, as a key component of their campaigns, the Labor Party's Just Health Care plan. In a letter to President George W. Bush and nine candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination, the Labor Party outlined its call for national health insurance, demonstrated its innovative and equitable funding mechanism and challenged each candidate to endorse the program.

"There is absolutely no excuse for any candidate to oppose Just Health Care. By eliminating administrative waste and profit, this country can afford to cover all its residents with quality health care from birth to death. We challenge the candidates to solve the health care crisis by pledging to implement Just Health Care," said Mark Dudzic, National Organizer of the Labor Party.

The Labor Party is the nation's only political party with a comprehensive solution to the health care crisis that ensures coverage for all residents, raises revenues in an equitable fashion and provides a Just Transition for displaced health industry workers. By eliminating administrative waste and profit in the health care system, the United States can provide comprehensive health care coverage to every resident of the United States for the same total amount of money (an estimated $1.213 trillion for 1999) that we now spend. A briefing paper detailing the Just Health Care financing plan is available at www.justhealthcare.org.

Key Features of the Just Health Care Revenue Stream
Employer contribution of 5.5 percent of payroll: $255.1 billion
Income tax on the wealthiest 5 percent of taxpayers: $161.9 billion
Tax on stock and bond transactions: $128.4 billion
Corporate tax shelter loopholes: $60 billion
Existing federal and state tax revenues: $533.3 billion
Household out of pocket costs and existing non-patient revenues: $74.8 billion
Total Revenue: $1.213 trillion

The savings from the elimination of private insurance will come at the expense of jobs in the health care industry. The Labor Party believes we have an obligation to provide a just transition for these workers. Just Transition's goal is to alleviate the financial burden of eliminating health care jobs and to make it easier to find another job at a comparable salary.

"With more than 44 million Americans without health insurance and many millions more under-insured, forgoing needed care and medication because of high co-payments and deductibles, the time to act is now. We don't need so-called reforms that amount to no more than band-aids on a gaping wound. We challenge the candidates to adopt our program or explain to the American people why it should not be adopted," said Mark Dudzic.

The Labor Party is a national organization made up of international and local unions (representing over two million workers), worker supportive organizations and individual members. Founded in 1996 at a convention of 1,400 delegates, the Labor Party exists to develop an independent working-class politics. We believe that on important issues such as health care, trade, and the rights to organize, bargain and strike, both the Democratic and Republican Parties have failed working people. Labor Party members across the country will take this challenge to their congressional candidates and to the Presidential nominating conventions.