Passed 5/2/2011
WHEREAS since 1965, Medicare has provided secure and guaranteed health coverage to America’s senior citizens, serving the moral imperative that no retiree should be left to suffer from illness or injury, and
WHEREAS while providing health coverage to seniors is projected to grow increasingly more expensive in the decades to come, Medicare’s single-payer system is provably the most efficient way for the government to provide this coverage, and any effort to eliminate this system and replace it with insurance “vouchers” will either cost the government more money or leave some percentage of seniors with unacceptable shortages of care, and
WHEREAS Republicans in the House and Senate recently voted to support a budget that would phase out Medicare over the next 10 years, and replace it with such an insurance “voucher” system,
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley (DPSFV) opposes any effort to reduce guaranteed health coverage for seniors or eliminate Medicare’s single-payer system in favor of a private insurance-based system, and
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DPSFV calls on our government to address rising health care costs by expanding Medicare’s efficient single-payer coverage to all American citizens