Cook County Board Approves Resolution in Support of The Medicare for All Act - HR1384

Cook County Board of Commissioners Meeting - June 6, 2019
                      Commissioner Absent:  Stanley Moore

What did the Board Decide:
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The Board approved a Resolution in Support of HR1384 - The Medicare for All Act.
Rationale:  

• The United States spends nearly twice as much per capita on health care as all other comparable countries, yet ranks only 35th by global health standards.
• The uninsured rate for U. S. adults has risen for four straight years up to nearly 30 million uninsured. 
• More than 40% of all U.S. adults under the age of 65 forego needed medical care, fail to fill a prescription or take less than the recommended dose of their medication.
• The inability to pay medical bills continues to be a leading cause of personal bankruptcy.
• 55% of the uninsured are people of color.
• Due to their profit incentive, private insurance companies deny up to one-fourth of all claims for care.

The Medicare for All Act supposedly will:                                                                                          

• Establish guaranteed, universal health care to all U.S. residents, eliminating all costs for premiums, deductibles, copays and other out of pocket costs.                             
• Ensure genuine patient choice of any doctor, hospital or clinic a patient chooses.
• Reduce the cost of prescription drugs by authorizing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.

Other Items of Interest:

• The meeting began with three public speakers, nurses at Stroger Hospital, in support of the above bill.
• The Board referred to the Criminal Justice Committee a proposed ordinance to change the hours of the Law Library, to make it more accessible to the public for the purposes of legal research.
• The Board approved the authorization to renew a Cook County States Attorney’s Office grant to provide funding for a total of 21 victim specialists to provide services to all crime victims throughout Cook County. - Grant amount:  $2,250,000.00

Observer: – Beverly Graham            Meeting Length: 55 minutes