November 12, 1999

CLEVELAND—The National Council of Churches (NCC) and other faith groups were applauded Thursday for their efforts to put universal health care back on the national political agenda.

Speaking at a forum of the National Faith Communities Health Care Gathering here, Dr. Caswell A. Evans, Jr., Deputy U.S. Surgeon General, decried what he called a "disease-care and illness-treatment system" that is "profit-centered and investor-driven" and does not actually deliver health care.

He praised the recent efforts by the NCC and other faith groups to remedy a situation in which, amid economic prosperity for many, there are huge pockets of inequity in health care. For example, some 44 million Americans—including 16 million children—are without any type of health insurance at all, Dr. Evans said. "This needs to be fixed and you can have an impact on that," he said.

The NCC and its member denominations are key players in a new effort, the "Universal Health Care 2000 Campaign," or "U2K," that wants to make universal health care a prominent issue in the year 2000 elections. The Nov. 11 forum served as a way to launch a faith-based community organizing campaign for universal health care, and was part of the two-day National Faith Communities Health Care Gathering.

"For universal health care, we (in the faith community) can’t sit and wait any longer," said Barbara Baylor, who heads the Health and Welfare Program of the United Church of Christ. "The debate needs to go from can we have universal health care to how can we have universal health care," said Pat Conover of the UCC Washington office.

Robb Burlage, Director of the Interfaith Health Care Initiative of the NCC's National Ministries Unit, and Barbara George, NCC Ecumenical Networks Director, said the issue of health care intersects with every other social issue facing the United States today.

"This is the pinnacle issue," Ms. George said. She noted that when Oregon introduced a version of universal health care in the early 1990s, the state’s welfare rates declined.

"The churches lost hope with this issue in the early 1990s," she noted, when the U.S. Congress defeated an effort by the Clinton administration to widen health coverage in the United States. But the issue has refused to go away, and now the U.S. faith community is poised to tackle the issue anew and with fresh vigor. "We’re back again," said Barbara Baylor.

Thursday’s forum featured testimonies of denominational representatives, church congregations and community groups that have worked in coalitions to improve conditions of health care at the local level.

In one such program, the Sierra Health Foundation, a Sacramento-based group, has worked in coalition with local groups to improve health conditions for children, with a particular interest in improving dental health, a little-known but growing health concern throughout the United States.