Sunday was the kickoff for the 2005 “Cover the
Uninsured Week” (CTUW). Because it includes groups like the Chamber of Commerce and American
Medical Association and has Gerald Ford as one of its honorary
co-chairs, CTUW’s organizers are able to claim it is a
“nonpartisan” event comprised of “individuals and organizations
from every sector of society…join[ing] together to tell our
leaders that health care coverage for all Americans must be their
top priority.” But that is little more than window dressing. CTUW
is a platform for advocates of universal — i.e., government-run —
health care.
Among the backers are unions like the AFL-CIO and the Service
Employees International Union. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney is on
record as supporting a single-payer system. SEIU at one point
supported the late Senator Paul Wellstone’s plan for universal
coverage and now has an offshoot called Americans for Health Care
that supports all sorts of state government meddling in health
care.
Other national partners in CTUW include the AARP, whose 2005 Policy Book states, “The
public, through the federal and state governments, has the ultimate
responsibility to develop a system that ensures universal access to
health care coverage for all individuals….The government should
establish a minimum, adequate, defined package of benefits to which
all individuals are entitled.” Another partner is the National Medical Association, an association of
African-American physicians, which “supports the provision of
Universal Health Insurance Coverage for all individuals and
families.” There is also Families USA, which advocates for more money for
programs like Medicaid and disparages market-based alternatives
like tax credits and Health Savings Accounts.
The prime mover behind CTUW is the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation. Robert Wood Johnson built the health care giant Johnson
and Johnson, and in 1972 his bequest established the foundation
that bears his name. It is one of the largest foundations in the
nation, with its latest tax return showing more than $8 billion in
assets. Its health-care agenda could hardly be clearer. “[I]insofar
as achieving universal coverage,” wrote former Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
president Steven Schroeder, “government functions as a legitimate
public servant….Given the potential importance of government in
financing and implementing any significant health insurance
expansion, public attitudes about the validity of government’s role
pose a significant barrier to decreasing the number of uninsured.”
The legislative tracker on the CTUW website gives one a
sense of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s priorities. Although
there are entries for tax credits, they are at the bottom of the
page, preceded by proposals to expand health care via Medicaid,
Medicare, COBRA, the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and
“new public programs.”
In 2003, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation launched the first
CTUW. Since then it has grown to include numerous sponsors and
participants, with events in every state in the nation. Other
foundations now contribute considerable sums to the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation for CTUW, including the W.K. Kellogg Foundation,
which donated $300,000 in 2003, and the California Endowment, which
has donated over $1.8 million since 2003.
Indeed, there is an interlocking web of funding among the
foundations and groups participating in CTUW. The AFL-CIO’s Working
for America Institute received $25,000 from the California
Endowment in 2002. Since 2001 the National Medical Association has
received over $650,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Since 1999
Families USA has received more than $1 million from the California
Endowment, over $5.3 million from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and
over $7.3 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has also given over $4.8 million to
the AARP, $350,000 to the Service Employees International Union,
and over $397,000 to the Healthcare Leadership Council, another
partner of CTUW.
You will hear a lot about solutions to the uninsured during
CTUW. But one approach you won’t here much of is “consumer-driven
health care.” Indeed, a search yields no hits for the term
“consumer driven” on the CTUW website. That reveals the lack of
interest that most CTUW organizers have in market-based solutions.
While CTUW may sound nice, don’t be fooled. Many of its organizers
are using it to expand government control over health care.
