NATIONAL HEALTH CARE REFORM

WHEREAS, the national health care crisis affects AFT members as workers, patients, family members and taxpayers; and

WHEREAS, the impact of the national health care crisis on AFT members, their families, children and others they teach and serve is increasingly negative; and

WHEREAS, the current health care delivery and finance system is fundamentally flawed, in as much as costs are out of control, quality of care is not assured, and millions of Americans are uninsured; and

WHEREAS, the complex and interrelated problems of cost, quality and access cannot be solved with piecemeal strategy; and

WHEREAS, the future educational attainment of America's children is in jeopardy, because many children are denied access to good health services, which is essential to their educational progress; and

WHEREAS, the delegates to the 1990 AFT convention adopted "The Future of Health Care" resolution, an overall statement on the need for comprehensive reform of the health care system:

RESOLVED, that the AFT reaffirm its call for comprehensive reform of our nation's health care delivery and finance system as presented in "The Future of Health Care" resolution, and calls on the federal government to enact national legislation that will:

• Establish a national cost-containment strategy, which may include a single payment system, to bring all health care costs under control by setting an overall target on health care expenditures, a capital budget on the development and distribution of new technology, and uniform payment rates to providers.

• Improve quality by developing a national data bank on the cost and quality of care, a national system for technology development and assessment, dissemination of practice guidelines to payers and providers.

• Guarantee every American the right to health care by establishing a national health insurance program that covers the employed, unemployed, those not in the labor force, and provides comprehensive benefits including preventative services, long-term care and prescription drugs.

• Create a public-private partnership to administer the national health plan by establishing a national commission of labor, management, government and health care providers and simplify the existing complex and costly health care administrative structure.

• Establish and maintain health clinics at or near schools to provide primary and preventative services for all school-age children.