West Orange Township Council Approves Medicare for All Resolution, Joins Growing List of Localities Demanding Guaranteed Health Care
West Orange Township Council Approves Medicare for All Resolution,
Joins Growing List of Localities Demanding Guaranteed Health Care
West Orange, NJ – West Orange Township Council passed a resolution today in support of the Medicare for All Act of 2021.
The West Orange Council’s consideration of the resolution sends a strong message to New Jersey’s federal legislators that the residents of West Orange are demanding an end to for-profit health care in favor of a universal system without copays or out-of-pocket costs.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, 30 million Americans (700,000 NJ residents) lacked health insurance and an additional 57 million had health insurance but were still unable to afford needed health care. The record levels of unemployment in the last year increased those numbers, as millions lost their employer-based health insurance along with their jobs.
Today’s resolution by the township council acknowledged that the pandemic further exposed the dangers of our fragmented, profit-driven health care system, which left far too many people in New Jersey more vulnerable to diseases like Covid-19.
“Our for profit health insurance system has long been plagued with injustices and inequities. Predatory for-profit healthcare creates instability and uncertainty. Medicare for All is about racial and gender justice. It is about making sure that you can live a healthy and stable life without fear of going bankrupt when you are sick. We are pleased that the council passed this resolution in support of the Medicare for All Act of 2021,” said Justin Goldsman, chair of Our Revolution Essex, the local group behind the effort.
“This pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of our current healthcare system and we can no longer accept a structure that puts company profits above people. Healthcare is a human right and we must ensure everyone is afforded healthcare that is not tied to employment and that does not make one choose between life and death. We need Medicare for All now,” added Cindy Matute Brown, the West Orange Township Councilwoman who introduced the resolution.
The resolution is one of 55 that have been passed nationally in 2019 – 2021, and the latest to pass in NJ where five other local Medicare for All resolutions have already been passed with many others underway. The effort is being organized by numerous nationwide organizations including Public Citizen, Our Revolution and Healthcare-NOW.
