"Americans clearly want a system that guarantees health care for everyone," says the Citizens' Health Care Working Group -- comprised of 15 members who represent consumers, businesses, the disabled, healthcare providers and organized labor. The group was created in 2003 when Congress created a Medicare prescription drug benefit. Since then, the group has heard from 6,650 people across the country, as well as more than 14,000 who responded to its internet poll.
The report will be presented to President Bush on Monday, though the group acknowledges that its recommendations contradict Bush's beliefs that Americans should be more responsible for their initial medical expenses. Following the president's response, five congressional committee hearings are scheduled to discuss the report.
The group states that its findings are controversial and complex, and that "it will take time, technical expertise and, especially a great deal of political will to implement these strategies."
Though the group says consumers believe there is enough money to pay for the changes it recommends, and that most are willing to pay more to build up revenues for full coverage for all Americans, some believe the report's reccomendations will not work in reality.
"It's a utopian wish list that I just don't think is a practical political and policy recommendation," says Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, Inc. Turner also says that the list of guaranteed treatments would be so long that it would become "prohibitively expensive."
Health critic Mike Adams, author of "Take Back Your Health Power,"says, "Everyone can demand universal health coverage, but that still doesn't solve the health crisis in America. Unless we start educating the public on how to prevent disease through nutrition, exercise and avoidance of dietary and environmental toxins, health care costs will bankrupt this economy."
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