Maryland: 'Healthcare Is A Human Right'

A new report reveals that the cost of healthcare has forced 45% of people surveyed in Maryland to skip doctor’s appointments, medication, or other forms of healthcare, pushing people into poor health, medical debt, and other struggles.

“The healthcare crisis is often talked about as a political drama playing out in Annapolis and Washington, DC,” says Dr. Naumburg, a resident of Columbia who helped conduct the survey. “It’s absolutely a crisis that’s caused by policy, but what’s often missed is the devastating human impact the crisis is having.”

Combining survey data from almost 900 respondents with vignettes from several Maryland residents, the report paints a portrait of the human side of the healthcare crisis. One in three people surveyed said that they have a family member whose health has deteriorated because they could not afford to seek care. Forty-five percent of people said they have had trouble paying insurance premiums, copayments, coinsurance, deductibles, and other insurance costs. Thirty-seven percent of people said that they or a family member stayed in a job just to keep insurance coverage.

Healthcare Is a Human Right—Maryland advocates point out that while the Affordable Care Act improved some people’s healthcare access through Medicaid expansion and other reforms, it maintains the private insurance system that they say is at the root of the crisis.
 “An insurance market is a great way for insurance company to make money, but from a human rights perspective, it just doesn’t work. Markets simply aren’t intended to guarantee access to healthcare. The only way we’re ever going to make sure every person in Maryland can get the healthcare they need is if we provide universal healthcare as a public good.”

According to the report, Maryland residents are widely disaffected by the current healthcare system. Ninety-five percent of people surveyed say that they believe healthcare is a human right, and 86% say that the government is obligated to protect this right, but only 18% think that the right to healthcare is currently protected in Maryland. Sixty-five percent of people surveyed say that they believe they currently have no say in the healthcare system, and 75% support a shift to a publicly funded universal healthcare system.

The report, released by Healthcare is a Human Right – Maryland in partnership with the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, is based on a survey of people across 10 counties. Healthcare Is a Human Right – Maryland points to the report findings as evidence that a broad group of people across the state are disaffected with the insurance system and the Affordable Care Act and ready to mobilize for universal healthcare.

 “People know that this is going to be a big political fight, but the only way they’re going to see this come to be is if we all stand up and take action together to demand the system we need.”

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Absolutely, stand up and take action together - but for the whole deal. Socialism is a system organised by the people, for the people, in total contrast to the current non-democratic system run by groups of individuals with goals opposed to those which benefit the population as a whole. For those not familiar with the object and principles of the Socialist Party our website is recommended:
www.worldsocialism.org/spgb