June 2006 Vol. 25. No. 6

Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.

Meeting health needs of the future: Introducing the New Alzheimer's Center

Rural representation: Eureka man named to California Commission on Aging

Happy 25th anniversary, Silvercrest!

Designing for Alzheimer's

Get healthy in McKinleyville this month

Think About It: Health district option is being explored

Delivering care - Single payer is the way to go

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There's a natural tendency to stick with the familiar, even when it's failing, for fear that change may bring something worse. That's the only way to explain why the richest nation on earth clings to a broken health-care system that exploits the gap between rich and poor without providing good results to either.

It's tragic, but true. Americans fortunate enough to have Cadillac coverage are scared to death of a universal health-care system they fear would strip them of their privileges. Of course, fewer and fewer of us actually have Cadillac coverage. Deductibles and co-pays are rising. The list of exclusions in a typical policy is growing.

And yet the critics say we're better off than people in Canada or England, or any place else with socialized medicine.

That's why a recent study that found British citizens were much healthier than Americans was so stunning. We spend twice as much per person on health care than the British. We're not fatter or more sedentary, we don't smoke more. And yet, the wealthiest Americans have higher rates of the deadliest maladies than the poorest Britons.

I'm not saying universal health care alone can explain this disparity. But I think it's clear we are getting ripped off if we're paying twice as much and still don't have good health to show for it.

Fortunately, there is a movement in this country to adopt a single-payer, universal model that provides health care to all. In California, this movement has taken the form of Senate Bill 840 by Sen. Sheila Keuhl. I'm a co-author of this bill, and I believe it creates a superior system.

Sadly, it probably won't become law this year. But as health care continues to take an ever-increasing bite out of middle-class bank accounts, we will be moving in that direction. As soon as we get sick enough of our current system, we'll be ready to make the change.

Assemblywoman Patty Berg represents the 1st District, which covers the counties of Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, Trinity and portions of Sonoma. She chairs the Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care.