Regarding Health Care for All (Universal Health Care)

WHEREAS, the health care in the nation continues to worsen as more than 45 million Americans are without health care coverage; and

WHEREAS, health care costs are rising exponentially and more Americans than ever are uninsured; and

WHEREAS, one of every six Americans under age 65 is uninsured; one out of every three Hispanics and one out of every five African Americans have no insurance; and

WHEREAS, the most uninsured people in America are African Americans and Latinos who also have more health problems and die younger; and

WHEREAS, more and more employees are reducing or eliminating dependent health care coverage for active workers and retirees, dropping health care coverage entirely, and shifting health care costs to employees; and

WHEREAS, millions of children are without insurance and those that do have health insurance are finding rising premiums, co-payments and deductibles more and more unaffordable; and

WHEREAS, children are negatively affected by the crisis in health care physically, mentally, emotionally and academically as the learning ability of children whose quality of life has been severely compromised; and

WHEREAS, many insurers are eliminating or charging higher premiums for critical coverage such as prenatal and maternity coverage; and

WHEREAS, African Americans are dying from preventable and curable diseases, often because of lack of preventive care and early treatment; and

WHEREAS, the infant death rate for African Americans is 2.5 times as high as that of whites, and African Americans have a 30 percent greater chance of dying from preventable heart disease than whites, and from diabetes at twice the rate of whites.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP reaffirms its position that every American deserves access to the excellent healthcare that our country provides to the wealthy and federal officials; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP is committed to working with other like-minded organizations to achieve affordable health care for all Americans.