THE SAG HARBOR EXPRESS
ISSUE DATE: 6/24/04 June 2004
Health Care Crisis Incites Residents
by Beth Young
Sag Harbor has become known of late for its social activist groups, from the Women in Black to East End Direct Action to every stripe of neighborhood and community organization.
Several members of the Sag Harbor community launched the new Coalition for Health Coverage in Suffolk (CHCS) organization this weekend at a press event in front of the emergency department at Southampton Hospital.
The group is part of a nationwide campaign to bring attention to what members believe is a growing health care crisis in America.
Their concerns are broad-reaching, from prescription drug plans for seniors to women’s health issues to the underinsurance of immigrants and small businesses, but they share a focus on the unique issues facing the South Fork.
Kathleen Madigan of Sag Harbor is planning a new TV documentary called “On the Edge: Living Without Health Insurance,” which will be hosted by another Sag Harborite, investigative journalist Jim Henry. Terry Winchell will provide the music for the program.
“We’ve discovered thousands of people are suffering silently,” said Madigan. “People are working so hard to stay alive out here.”
Madigan, who helped form the Women’s Health Partnership to provide free mammograms and pap smears on the South Fork, has seen her share of those most impacted by the health care crisis here.
The show will follow the plight of both the average hard-working citizen and recent immigrants to an area where the needs of wealthy citizens are placed at the forefront. The program will include an interview with the CEO of Southampton Hospital, which recently came under fire for its now-rescinded Southampton PLUS program. That program would have entitled those who paid an additional fee to superior care at the hospital.
Dr. Elaine Fox has practiced medicine in Southampton for 17 years, and she came to the rally on Saturday because of the crisis many patients are having in getting the care they need.
“It’s totally unjust,” she said of the American health care system. “Health care is a right, not a privilege. This country treats healthcare as a commodity – its just not right.”
Though the hospital’s PLUS program may be an easy target for those upset about health care, Dr. Fox believes the issue is more complex.
“The hospital is having this problem because a not-for-profit hospital is forced to compete with for-profits to stay alive,” she said.
James Henry, whose recently completed book “The Blood Bankers” exposes shady international banking practices, has just as much of a concern for health care practices.
“It’s of interest to small business owners, immigrants,” he said. “Our focus is on organizing and educating people. There are 44 million uninsured people in the United States, 2.5 million more in the past year. In the U.S. as a whole, more than 80 million people have been uninsured for six months.”
Specific policies that the group would like to explore include that the government bargain more efficiently with pharmacies, and bringing attention to the new bill HR676, which would reorganize health care through a single payer system. That plan would save $280 billion in administrative costs over the current system.
Members of the group call themselves “Health Care Voters,” and they are pledging to make health care a priority every time they go to the polls. They plan to pressure elected officials to make health care a priority, by voting only for candidates who have detailed, feasible plans to provide quality, affordable health care.
The group estimates that over 250,000 Americans have signed on for the pledge.