2022 -- S 2331

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LC004392

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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S E N A T E   R E S O L U T I O N

URGING THE RHODE ISLAND CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO PRIORITIZE

RACIAL JUSTICE IN HEALTHCARE AND CHAMPION THE PASSAGE OF THE

MEDICARE FOR ALL ACT

     Introduced By: Senators Mendes, Mack, Calkin, Anderson, and Acosta

     Date Introduced: February 15, 2022

     Referred To: Senate Health & Human Services

     WHEREAS, A national health insurance program will enable all United States residents

to receive the healthcare that our country needs to survive and thrive; and

     WHEREAS, All people are deserving of healthcare, however, the current, privatized

healthcare system deprives many Americans of timely, effective, affordable, and accessible

healthcare; and

     WHEREAS, The attempted privatization of Medicare, via the Direct Contracting Entities

(DCEs) created by the Trump administration’s Medicare Direct Contracting pilot program, which

financially incentivizes DCEs to deny Americans medically necessary care, endangers the lives of

at least 30 million traditional Medicare beneficiaries, and threatens the existing Medicare

program’s effectiveness as a public, nonprofit, social-insurance program; and

     WHEREAS, The United States currently spends almost twice as much per capita on

healthcare as comparable countries, and despite that cost, ranks only 35th in the world by global

health standards including average life expectancy, infant mortality, maternal mortality, and death

from preventable diseases; and

     WHEREAS, The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has proven that depriving one person of

healthcare injures all people; and

     WHEREAS, The matrix of multiple health crises impacting Americans has

disproportionately impacted people of color, from the growing environmental crisis which has

revealed the devastating rise in environmental racism, to the COVID-19 pandemic which

decimates communities of color; and

     WHEREAS, Fifty-five percent of the uninsured are people of color; and

     WHEREAS, Black Americans suffer higher death rates at an earlier age than white

Americans due to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and infant mortality; and

     WHEREAS, Black American women are three to four times more likely than white

women to die in childbirth; and

     WHEREAS, Black American and Latinx students are more likely to experience health

risks due to exposure to toxins and air pollution at school and at home; and

     WHEREAS, The current, privatized healthcare system perpetuates discrimination based

on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, and

where one lives, which is inherent to profit-based healthcare systems; and

     WHEREAS, People of color make up 42 percent of the nonelderly U.S. population, yet

account for over half of the total nonelderly uninsured population; and

     WHEREAS, Latinx and Black Americans have significantly higher uninsured rates (19

percent and 11 percent respectively) compared to white Americans; and

     WHEREAS, Uninsured Black Americans often delay preventative care and obtain more

expensive emergency treatment as a last resort; and

     WHEREAS, Latinx Americans are the most uninsured population in the United States

today, and comprise much of the workforce that is unable to get health coverage through their

jobs; and

     WHEREAS, Medicaid, which is a lifeline for many people of color and low-income

patients, is not accepted at many hospitals and doctors’ offices, leaving many without access to

necessary care; and

     WHEREAS, Black maternal and prenatal health access remains at crisis levels; and

     WHEREAS, In the for-profit healthcare system, racial bias mars the entirety of American

healthcare, and patients need to be able to get the care they seek when it is appropriate and

convenient for them. Communities of color need a healthcare system that rectifies these long-

standing structural biases, and Medicare for All is that system; and

     WHEREAS, Medical debt remains a glaring issue for Black Americans with nearly one

in three Black Americans aged 18 to 64 having past-due medical bills; and

     WHEREAS, Ineffectively regulated costs of medical care create such a burden for

Americans that one-third of all GoFundMe online fundraising campaigns are created to assist

with paying medical bills; and

     WHEREAS, The inability to pay overwhelming medical bills continues to be a leading

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cause of personal bankruptcy in America; and

     WHEREAS, Americans frequently choose to forego healthcare because they cannot

afford it; and

     WHEREAS, The uninsured rate in the United States has risen to over 31 million, with the

greatest increases among women, young adults, and people currently earning lower than average

wages; and

     WHEREAS, Medicare for All would support the health and economic security of patients

of color at all income levels, including finally providing full healthcare coverage for all

reproductive health services, as well as controlling the costs of prescription drugs; and

     WHEREAS, Medicare for All will eliminate the idea of “out of network” providers; and

     WHEREAS, Passing the Medicare for All Act will be difficult because of the inertia of

history along with the present-day forces that oppose a racially equitable healthcare system,

namely members of Congress, who are influenced by lobbyists pushing a for-profit healthcare

machine and/or committed to perpetuating a right-wing agenda; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby urgently requests that

Rhode Island's Congressional Delegation supports and prioritizes passage of H.R. 1976, the

Medicare for All Act of 2021, and its Senate companion bill. We moreover urge our delegation to

co-sponsor, publicly champion, and whip votes sufficient for the passage of the Medicare for All

Act of 2021 into law; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation.

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