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Divided we fail: Quality, affordable health care should be available to everyone

Friday, August 22, 2008 3:50 PM EDT

American businesses have their backs against the wall and American workers are losing benefits, and in many cases, their jobs, because of skyrocketing, out-of-control health care costs. All across the nation, business leaders, their employees, families, friends, and neighbors are starting to say: enough is enough! Closely behind this lament are rumblings that something has to be done.

Predictions are that the average Fortune 500 Company will spend as much on health care as it makes in profits by 2008. General Motors already spends more on health care than it spends on steel. In a Business Roundtable survey of their member-CEOs, 58 percent cited health care costs as the greatest pressure point for their businesses. We're losing our edge to global competitors in countries with lower costs and universal health care.

Small businesses also are feeling the pinch. While premiums rose 7 percent between 2005 and 2006 in firms with more than 200 employees, they rose 8.8 percent across firms with less than 200 workers.

Americans spent about $2 trillion on health care last year - well over $6,000 for every man, woman and child. That's far more than any other industrialized country. And costs continue to grow at more than twice the general inflation rate. Yet we rank well behind other advanced societies in life expectancy and infant mortality.

At AARP, we believe that affordable, high quality health care should be available to all Americans. And we believe we can and must get better value for our health care dollar. We need to improve quality, cut out the waste and focus our resources where they will do the most good.

It's not too late to turn the tide, if we begin addressing these issues now.

AARP has joined with the National Business Roundtable, SEIU and the National Federation of Independent Business to launch an ambitious initiative called "Divided We Fail," because accomplishing our goal of affordable quality health care and financial security for all will require the efforts of all of us.

Getting there is going to take the concerted efforts of every sector - health, business, government - and individuals too. AARP is engaging our members and the public to press for change. We are putting pressure on candidates to make health and financial security the top domestic issues in the presidential campaign.

This is an all-encompassing effort to activate the American people as never before. We're building a public movement, demanding leadership and action on health care.

Americans have an enormous opportunity to compel our nation's leaders to work out common-sense, bipartisan solutions so that all of us can have the affordable quality health care we need and deserve.

The stakes are high. If we don't succeed, quality of life - for present and future generations - will suffer. And America will have fallen short of its promise. We need your help to succeed. Please join us at www.dividedwefail.org. Divided We Fail, together we can do anything.

Eric Schneidewind serves as the State President for AARP in Michigan.

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