Today, 45 million Americans are without health insurance.

That number is projected to reach 51 million next year.

What happens to families when health care is converted into just another profit-making enterprise?
1. Each year, one million families go bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills.

2. More than 18,000 Americans die every year because they lack health insurance.

3. U.S. infant mortality rate is the highest in the industrialized world, 9.8 deaths per 100,000 births. For Canada, the number is 3.4.

4. Profit determines priorities. Since preventing a flu epidemic that could kill thousands is not so profitable as making Viagra, many seniors had great difficulty getting their flu shot.

5. About 80% of uninsured Americans are employed, but their employers do not offer affordable health plans or the workers do not make enough to purchase individual coverage.

6. Those who now benefit from employer-sponsored health plans could lose their benefits as premiums continue to rise 12% to 18% a year. GM currently adds $1,200 to the cost of each car to cover employee health insurance.

7. Market-based medicine takes doctors away form their patients as physicians report 37% of their decisions are subjected to intrusive cost reviews, as mandated by insurance companies.

8. Uninsured patients are charged 2 to 3 times more than patients covered by health insurance.

It doesn't have to be this way.
We can have a health care program to cover everyone without spending one extra penny. New York currently spends $7.5 billion each year on health insurance costs. Adopting a "medicare for all " approach, thereby eliminating waste and profit, would bring the cost down to $0.8 billion.
( "Waste Not Want Not," Jobs with Justice) Adobe Reader is required to open this report.

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The Tenth Annual 40-hour FAST
Tuesday, March 1, 2005, at 8 p.m.
until Wednesday, March 3, at noon

The number 40 has special significance in both religious and labor traditions. In religious history, the 40 days of Lent, the 40 days of rain in the Great Flood, and the Israelites' 40 years of wandering in the desert are a few examples of this deeply symbolic number. The 40-hour work week, which gave workers "the weekend" for rest, was won only after years of hard struggle and sacrifice by the labor movement.

The New York State Labor-Religion Coalition and its twelve affiliates sponsor events across the state during the 40 hours. For more information, visit our web site www.labor-religion.org or call 518/613-6000, ext. 6294.