Reply #100: Byllye Avery

[Two Americas]

Recognized as dreamer, visionary and grassroots realist, Byllye Avery is founder of The Avery Institute for Social Change and the Black Women's Health Imperative. A women's health activist for over 25 years, she has received honorary degrees from Thomas Jefferson University, Gettysburg College, Bowdoin College, and others. A sample of Ms. Avery's awards include the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship "Genius Grant" for Social Contribution, Lifetime Television's Trailblazer Award, the Essence magazine award for community service, the President's Citation of the American Public Health Association, and the Academy of Science Institute of Medicine's Award for the Advancement of Health Care.

Recent national polls (conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and other organizations) indicate that voters ranked health care among their top concerns. An estimated 50 million Americans lack medical insurance, including 9 million of our children. About 18,000 Americans die each year because they lack medical coverage. But even those who have insurance suffer under the current system. Of the more than 1.5 million bankruptcies filed each year, about half are a result of medical bills; of those, three-quarters of filers had health insurance.

Businesses and employees are financially hard hit too. Insurance premiums increased 73 percent in the last six years; that is, they outpaced increases in salaries and inflation by incredibly huge margins. Businesses canýt thrive with these overheads and they share increased insurance costs with employees whose take-home pay is thus reduced.

For almost all Americans, then, this system is not working. And in spite of the urgency of this issue, dialogue at the national level is just as broken. Among most politicians in Washington DC, a comprehensive solution ý based on successful working models from other wealthy nations - is off the table. The health care industries combined are the top spenders on Capitol Hill, and politicians from both major parties are beholden to all-powerful insurance and pharmaceutical lobbyists and other influence peddlers.

In other wealthy countries, universal health care is the norm. And, according to a 2005 Harris Poll, 75 percent of Americans want the peace of mind of universal health insurance. Americans recognize that prevention is the best medicine. But we are all vulnerable to illness, job loss and injury. These are unplanned, difficult events in all our lives regardless of our financial status. Society as a whole benefits when we each can access the help we need. Without our permission, then, we continue to fund and participate in a failed 30 year old experiment between for-profit versus for-people health service industry.

And this path we are on is not even cost-effective, but the debate among politicians and those in the for-profit health care world is usually falsely framed. For instance, it is not widely known that studies done by various Congressional committees and state-based groups have concluded that billions of tax dollars would be saved annually if the US adopted, for instance, a universal single payer health care system.

How do ordinary citizens sort through the complexities of this crisis, and work together towards a solution? For this Conversation we had the good fortune to have as our guest speaker Byllye Avery (bio) a Backbone Cabinet nominee for Health and Human Services (HHS), and founding director of The Avery Institute for Social Change.

The Avery Institute is a national, non-profit organization based in Harlem, NY that is committed to quality health care for all. The organization takes a practical, visionary approach to health care reform, linking the grassroots, academic, and policy communities, giving voice to those who experience the impact of health disparities, particularly in communities of color. The Avery Institute is building a movement of concerned citizens, health activists, strategists and advocates to develop community-driven solutions to end health care disparities and to achieve healthcare reform. The organization seeks community-driven solutions for ending health disparities while stimulating a grassroots movement for national health care reform.