Press Release
1260 PEOPLE DIE NEEDLESSLY IN
NEW YORK STATE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Merrick, New York, February 10, 2006 - TheCenter for Health Care Policy Research
and Analysis, an organization committed to resolving the uninsured problem and
preventing the premature deaths each year of 18,000i uninsured Americans today claimed that New York State allows 1260* state residents to die needlessly each year because they have no Health Insurance.
Tom Garvey, Chairman, Board of Directors, for TheCenter stated "We recently
completed an analysis entitled the "Number of Uninsured Population Deaths, Under 65, By State of Residence, 2002". This analysis identified the number of uninsured residents by state that die prematurely because they have no health insurance. We were really surprised at the results."
Mr. Garvey further stated, "We knew that the uninsured have a 25% higher mortality
rateii then the insured population and that more people die from lack of health insurance (18,000) then die from diabetes (17,500)iii, but we had no idea that the deaths concentrated in very few states. Based on our analysis, the top ten states that allow their residents to die needlessly because they do not have health insurance are:
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State:
# of Premature Uninsured
|
|
Deaths
|
|
|
|
1) California
2,646
|
|
2) Texas
2,286
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|
3) New York
1,260
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|
4) Florida
1,170
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5) Illinois
738
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|
6) Pennsylvania
576
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7) North Carolina
558
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8) Ohio
558
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|
9) Georgia
558
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10) New Jersey
486
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|
------
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Total
10,278
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When are our elected officials going to STOP this unnecessary loss of life?
We must STOP death by health insurance.
For more information please contact: Tom Garvey at (516) 379-6812 or (800) 442-6177
2005 Merrick Road # 234, Merrick, NY 11566
tgarvey@thepolicycenter.org or go to www.thepolicycenter.org
1 Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations, Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies, January 2004, estimated that 18,000 people each year die prematurely because they lack health insurance, page 8.
* estimated
1 Ibid, page 8.
1 Ibid, page 46.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
thepolicycenter.org: DEATH BY HEALTH INSURANCE
Merrick, New York, October 18, 2005 - During a September 23, 2005 Presentation to the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved (CCMU) in Denver, Colorado, Tom Garvey, Chairman, Board of Directors, TheCenter for Health Care Policy Research and Analysis, accused the HMO industry of profiteering and diverting billions of dollars from patient care to HMO shareholders.
Mr. Garvey stated "In an industry where 18,000 people die each year because they don't have health insurance, keeping every dollar in the system matters." He further added, "It is outrageous and a sign of profiteering that the HMO industry in 2004 announced an $11.4 Billion dollar profit. God only knows how many lives could have been saved if a fraction of that profit had gone to patient care. I can only imagine how many more billions of dollars the other health care financing groups made.
We must STOP death by health insurance."
Please contact us for information regarding a recently produced 30. second PSA and Video News Release with b-roll sound bites available to all media outlets.
For more information please contact:
Tom Garvey at 516.379.6812 or 800.442.6177
2005 Merrick Road #234, Merrick NY 11566
tgarvey@thepolicycenter.org or go to: www.thepolicycenter.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
HMO INDUSTRY ACCUSED OF PROFITEERING
Merrick, New York, October 3, 2005 - During a September 23, 2005
Presentation to the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved (CCMU) in
Denver, Colorado, Tom Garvey, Chairman of the Board, TheCenter for Health
Care Policy Research and Analysis, accused the HMO industry of profiteering and
diverting billions of dollars from patient care to HMO shareholders.
Mr. Garvey stated "In an industry where 18,000 people die each year because they don't have health insurance*, keeping every dollar in the system matters."
Additionally, "It is outrageous and a sign of profiteering that the HMO industry in 2004 announced an $11.4 billion dollar profit**. God only knows how many lives could have been saved if a fraction of this profit went to patient care. I can only imagine how many more billions of dollars the other health care financing groups made.
WE must STOP this health insurance profiteering"
* A January 2004 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report (Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations) estimated that 18,000 people each year die prematurely because they lack health insurance.
** HMO log profits up 10.7% in '04. "Profits for the nation's health maintenance organizations increased a healthy 10.7 percent last year, with earnings reaching a total of $11.4 billion, up from $10.3 billion the year before. An insurer based in South Florida is among the leading gainers." South Florida Business Journal, August 8, 2005, 9:31 EDT Monday.
For Immediate Release
Merrick, New York, May 1, 2005 - TheCenter for Health Care Policy Research & Analysis announced today that it has received a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit, tax-exempt public charity designation from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). TheCenter can now accept tax-deductible contributions/donations, bequests, devices, transfers or gifts.
TheCenter is committed to resolving the uninsured problem. Its goal is preventing the premature deaths each year of 18,000 uninsured Americans. It hopes to accomplish this by conducting the research and analysis necessary for the creation of a Universal Access Health Care Delivery and Single Payor Financing System, as well as by designing stakeholder and consumer education materials for such a system.
Tom Garvey, Chairman of TheCenter's Board of Directors, focused on the future challenges. He said "I can give you fifty reasons why a Universal Access Health Care Delivery and Single Payor Financing System is not feasible and only one reason why it is. However, the value of improving the quality of life for our fellow citizens far outweighs the fifty reasons why it cannot be done. In this case, one trumps fifty every time. It is feasible because it is the right thing to do for the American Public."
Mr. Garvey continued by saying "TheCenter believes that the American people should at least have the option of a Universal Access Health Care Delivery and Single Payor Financing System, let's call it the American Model. Special interest groups that control the health care delivery and financing systems will fight tooth and nail to prevent the American Model from being researched, analyzed, developed and even discussed. And we know why, don't we? These groups want the present financing system to continue because they are making billions of dollars from it, at the expense of the American public.
Furthermore, Mr. Garvey stated, "We cannot look to the federal government to fund TheCenter's goals. It is too busy figuring out ways to shift health care costs to the aged, ill and suffering. We cannot look at the private or public markets for funding because there is no return on investment (ROI) for them. We cannot look at corporations or foundations for funding because they are committed to preserving the financing status quo.
This is a grass roots initiative. The people who will fund TheCenter's goals are the ones who have the most to gain. They will have to finance TheCenter's research and analysis programs with their tax-deductible donations and contributions. We firmly believe that when the American public know about the American Model - a Universal Access Health Care Delivery and Single Payor Financing System - they will overwhelmingly support it, realizing that it is the best health care option for the future."
THE CENTER FOR HEALTH CARE POLICY
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS
(a 501 c (3) organization)
Press Release
News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
THANK GOD FOR
ELIOT SPITZER, NYS ATTORNEY GENERAL
Merrick, New York, October 25, 2004- THE CENTER FOR HEALTH
CARE POLICY RESEARCH & ANALYSIS, a new 501c(3) not-for-profit, tax-exempt public charity corporation today praised the work of Eliot Spitzer,NYS Attorney General and his staff for filing a civil lawsuit against Marsh & McLennan and charging the nation's largest insurance broker "duped its customers by faking and rigging bids for insurance contracts and favoring insurers that paid higher incentive commissions".
Tom Garvey, TheCenter's Chairman of the Board, said, "It is about time that the regulatory authorities attempted to curb the rampant abuses in the insurance industry. I don't understand why it was the NYS Attorney General's Office that exposed this fraud. The NYS Department of Insurance has the responsibility to regulate and assure the public that the insurance industry is operating within the limits of the law.
Where was the NYS Insurance Department and Superintendent of Insurance???"
Furthermore, Mr. Garvey states, "It appears that these fraudulent and illegal price-fixing practices have been going on for years and possibly decades. How much money has this illegal behavior and these practices cost the average citizen? I am sure that the number is in the BILLIONS of dollars.
We believe that the time has come to revisit how we regulate the business of insurance. The present state insurance regulatory strategy of having each state regulate the business of insurance has FAILED as demonstrated by the Marsh & McLennan catastrophe. It is clear to us that we will only have effective health care reform when it is coupled with health insurance reform. We call on our political leaders to begin the insurance reform process.
Thank God for Eliot Spitzer, NYS Attorney General and his staff, Mr. Garvey concluded."
For further information contact THE CENTER FOR HEALTH CARE POLICY RESEARCH & ANALYSIS at (516) 379-6812 or Email: tgarvey@healthcarepolicyresearchanalysis.org
Press Release
News Release
NEW 501 c (3) 0rganization Formed:
THE CENTER FOR HEALTH CARE POLICY
RESEARCH & ANALYSIS (TCHCPRA)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Merrick, New York, June 7, 2004 - TMG Consultants, Inc., a health care consulting Firm, today announced that
it is sponsoring the development of a new 501 c (3) not-for-profit, tax-exempt public charity corporation - THE
CENTER FOR HEALTH CARE POLICY RESEARCH & ANALYSIS (TCHCPRA). The mission of THE CENTER is twofold: 1) to conduct research & analysis on a United States Universal ACCESS health care delivery & financing system and 2) to design stakeholder & consumer education materials for such a system.
Tom Garvey, TMG President, said, " We believe that everyone who lives in the United States should be entitled to and have access to quality health care services. We also believe that the time has come to research, evaluate and
define a system that provides guaranteed access to every man, woman and child in the United States. The present
rapid financial and uninsured freefall facing the fragmented market-based U.S. health care delivery & financing
system must be addressed and resolved."
Paul Struxness, Member, Board of Directors for THE CENTER and President, Collateral Technologies, Inc., located in Kansas City, MO adds: "Experts and specialists in the U. S. health care financing & delivery industries realize that patient (consumer) access to the present health care delivery system is totally dependant on who funds the benefit. Forty-three million Americans are uninsured because they have no one to fund a health benefits program.
Therefore, the uninsured technically have no access to health care services and because of this 18,000 people will annually die prematurely. These statistics are staggering and unacceptable in our great society. My colleagues and I on the Board of Directors of THE CENTER FOR HEALTH CARE POLICY RESEARCH & ANALYSIS promise that we will do everything we can to define a Universal ACCESS System that allows everyone under the health care delivery and financing tent."
For further information contact Tom Garvey
at 516.379.6812 or Email: tgarvey@healthcarepolicyresearchanalysis.org |
