Campaign begins for universal health care

A coalition of labor unions, liberal activists and health care groups will launch a big-bucks nationwide campaign for universal health care today with rallies at the state Capitol and more than 50 other cities.

The $40 million ad campaign will urge voters to back affordable, comprehensive health care reform and candidates who do.

Health Care for America Now also targets insurance and pharmaceutical companies as the primary source of a health care crisis that has left more than 46 million Americans uninsured, including 1 million in Arizona, and raised out-of-pocket expenses for everyone else.

"Health care is related to just about any economic issue that America's families are dealing with," said Linda Brown, executive director of Arizona Advocacy Network, a coalition member.

"There's a groundswell of awareness out there and people know something has to be done," she said.

With a sizable budget, fed by thousands of union members and the country's largest grass-roots organizing groups, the health care campaign will invest in national TV, print and online advertising.

Though organizers aren't demanding specifics, the model comes from a plan written by Yale political science professor Jacob Hacker, on which Sens. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards based their proposals.

Under Hacker's plan, individuals, the government and employers would all have to contribute something. People could keep their private insurance, while the government would subsidize the uninsured, underinsured and small businesses.

"We think there's actually an American solution to this that is tailored to our needs and the costs we face here," said Monica Sandschafer, head organizer for ACORN Arizona.

"That's what Americans want. They want the option to stay (with their health plans)," she said. "But what about folks who aren't happy with their insurance, or who don't have any?"

Health insurance premiums in Arizona will nearly double from 2002 to 2010, according to St. Luke's Health Initiatives, and out-of-pocket health expenses are projected to hit 12percent of household income by 2012.

Roman Ullman's son has a good health insurance plan with the Mesa Unified School District, but adding his three children to the plan more than wipes out any raises he gets.

"It's kind of like gasoline. Everybody's getting caught in the same crunch," said Ullman, political director for AFSCME Arizona, which represents about 6,000 state, county and municipal employees.

AFSCME and other unions representing teachers, service and food-industry workers are key coalition members, along with progressive groups that include Americans United for Change, Campaign for America's Future and Center for American Progress, headed by John Podesta chief of staff for President Bill Clinton.

Other members include Planned Parenthood, the National Women's Law Center and MoveOn.org.

Though the coalition reads like an Obama endorsement list, organizers maintain that the campaign is about health care, not partisan politics.

"This is an issue that comes from the community and it resonates with the community," Sandschafer said.

"We in this campaign are working to bring about what's best for the community," she said. "If Obama happens to be the candidate who speaks best to that, then so be it."

Campaign launch

What: Launch of $40 million Health Care for America Now campaign

When: 10 a.m. today

Where: State Capitol, between House and Senate buildings

Information: Arizona ACORN at (602) 254-5299, or www.healthcareforamericanow.org