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 | |
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Introduced By: Senators Mendes, Mack, Calkin, Anderson, and Acosta | |
Date Introduced: February 15, 2022 | |
Referred To: Senate Health & Human Services | |
1 | WHEREAS, A national health insurance program will enable all United States residents |
2 | to receive the healthcare that our country needs to survive and thrive; and |
3 | WHEREAS, All people are deserving of healthcare, however, the current, privatized |
4 | healthcare system deprives many Americans of timely, effective, affordable, and accessible |
5 | healthcare; and |
6 | WHEREAS, The attempted privatization of Medicare, via the Direct Contracting Entities |
7 | (DCEs) created by the Trump administration’s Medicare Direct Contracting pilot program, which |
8 | financially incentivizes DCEs to deny Americans medically necessary care, endangers the lives of |
9 | at least 30 million traditional Medicare beneficiaries, and threatens the existing Medicare |
10 | program’s effectiveness as a public, nonprofit, social-insurance program; and |
11 | WHEREAS, The United States currently spends almost twice as much per capita on |
12 | healthcare as comparable countries, and despite that cost, ranks only 35th in the world by global |
13 | health standards including average life expectancy, infant mortality, maternal mortality, and death |
14 | from preventable diseases; and |
15 | WHEREAS, The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has proven that depriving one person of |
16 | healthcare injures all people; and |
17 | WHEREAS, The matrix of multiple health crises impacting Americans has |
18 | disproportionately impacted people of color, from the growing environmental crisis which has |
19 | revealed the devastating rise in environmental racism, to the COVID-19 pandemic which |
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1 | decimates communities of color; and |
2 | WHEREAS, Fifty-five percent of the uninsured are people of color; and |
3 | WHEREAS, Black Americans suffer higher death rates at an earlier age than white |
4 | Americans due to heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and infant mortality; and |
5 | WHEREAS, Black American women are three to four times more likely than white |
6 | women to die in childbirth; and |
7 | WHEREAS, Black American and Latinx students are more likely to experience health |
8 | risks due to exposure to toxins and air pollution at school and at home; and |
9 | WHEREAS, The current, privatized healthcare system perpetuates discrimination based |
10 | on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, and |
11 | where one lives, which is inherent to profit-based healthcare systems; and |
12 | WHEREAS, People of color make up 42 percent of the nonelderly U.S. population, yet |
13 | account for over half of the total nonelderly uninsured population; and |
14 | WHEREAS, Latinx and Black Americans have significantly higher uninsured rates (19 |
15 | percent and 11 percent respectively) compared to white Americans; and |
16 | WHEREAS, Uninsured Black Americans often delay preventative care and obtain more |
17 | expensive emergency treatment as a last resort; and |
18 | WHEREAS, Latinx Americans are the most uninsured population in the United States |
19 | today, and comprise much of the workforce that is unable to get health coverage through their |
20 | jobs; and |
21 | WHEREAS, Medicaid, which is a lifeline for many people of color and low-income |
22 | patients, is not accepted at many hospitals and doctors’ offices, leaving many without access to |
23 | necessary care; and |
24 | WHEREAS, Black maternal and prenatal health access remains at crisis levels; and |
25 | WHEREAS, In the for-profit healthcare system, racial bias mars the entirety of American |
26 | healthcare, and patients need to be able to get the care they seek when it is appropriate and |
27 | convenient for them. Communities of color need a healthcare system that rectifies these long- |
28 | standing structural biases, and Medicare for All is that system; and |
29 | WHEREAS, Medical debt remains a glaring issue for Black Americans with nearly one |
30 | in three Black Americans aged 18 to 64 having past-due medical bills; and |
31 | WHEREAS, Ineffectively regulated costs of medical care create such a burden for |
32 | Americans that one-third of all GoFundMe online fundraising campaigns are created to assist |
33 | with paying medical bills; and |
34 | WHEREAS, The inability to pay overwhelming medical bills continues to be a leading |
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1 | cause of personal bankruptcy in America; and |
2 | WHEREAS, Americans frequently choose to forego healthcare because they cannot |
3 | afford it; and |
4 | WHEREAS, The uninsured rate in the United States has risen to over 31 million, with the |
5 | greatest increases among women, young adults, and people currently earning lower than average |
6 | wages; and |
7 | WHEREAS, Medicare for All would support the health and economic security of patients |
8 | of color at all income levels, including finally providing full healthcare coverage for all |
9 | reproductive health services, as well as controlling the costs of prescription drugs; and |
10 | WHEREAS, Medicare for All will eliminate the idea of “out of network” providers; and |
11 | WHEREAS, Passing the Medicare for All Act will be difficult because of the inertia of |
12 | history along with the present-day forces that oppose a racially equitable healthcare system, |
13 | namely members of Congress, who are influenced by lobbyists pushing a for-profit healthcare |
14 | machine and/or committed to perpetuating a right-wing agenda; now, therefore be it |
15 | RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby urgently requests that |
16 | Rhode Island's Congressional Delegation supports and prioritizes passage of H.R. 1976, the |
17 | Medicare for All Act of 2021, and its Senate companion bill. We moreover urge our delegation to |
18 | co-sponsor, publicly champion, and whip votes sufficient for the passage of the Medicare for All |
19 | Act of 2021 into law; and be it further |
20 | RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
21 | transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to the Rhode Island Congressional Delegation. |
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LC004392 | |
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