title: The national health care imperative.
abstract: In summary, the nation's health care system is in serious need of reform. It is expensive and woefully inefficient. Millions of people are excluded from coverage, while others receive limited or second-class care. For those millions who suffer serious chronic problems that require long-term care, there is virtually no help. There is no help for the family whose loved one suffers from Alzheimer's disease. There is no help for the family whose child is born with cerebral palsy or epilepsy. There is no help for the middle-aged father, disabled in an automobile accident. Providing good care to all Americans is not a matter of money. America currently spends some 13% of its gross national product on health care, and yet the health statistics of Americans are the worst in the industrialized world. What America needs is a comprehensive system of health care that includes both acute and long-term care. Congress must take action to restore health care as a basic constitutional right of all Americans. Coverage for long-term care must be included within the context of any new national health care program. Funding for such a program should come from the most progressive tax that the Congress can fashion, which to this point is the federal income tax. Although there is an appropriate role for private insurance, it should function as a supplement to rather than as a substitute for a new national program. There are several other elements that are key to a national health care program: Home care must be the first line of any national long-term care program.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors: V J
authors: VJ
authors: Halamandaris
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004608:Eligibility Determination; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009310:National Health Insurance, United States / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States