Washington, DC – The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), a faith-based coalition of 34,000 churches comprised of 15 denominations and 15.7 million African Americans, sent to Senator McConnell and the entire senate its own health care plan that restores the 800-billion-dollar Medicaid cut. NBCI’s plan is called Innovative Health Policy Plan for Our Nation.
NBCI’s plan does not leave anyone out of the equation in terms of sacrifice. There are no sacred cows here. We believe that we have presented a fair and balanced plan that will also generate revenues as well as cut them; this plan will also spend revenues where the problems are such as in places of Health Disparities and cultural competency. If the National Black Church Initiative’s Innovative Health Policy Plan for Our Nation is implemented in our existing health care system, the 23 million who are slated to lose their insurance will not lose their coverage and our nation will be more healthy and vibrant.
Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the National Black Church Initiative, states with passion that “NBCI’sInnovative Health Policy Plan for Our Nation is a direct answer to the House and Senate health plan versions. We could not stand by and allow these plans to go unanswered. They are morally reprehensible. We did not elect Congress to take away our health safety net, and neither did we elect 40 white individuals who call themselves the Freedom Caucus who want to balance this nation’s health care deficit on the backs of the poor! The Black Church will not stand for any of this! This is why we present a comprehensive health plan for our nation and for African Americans so that families do not have to worry about filing for bankruptcy because of a major health illness. One of the other reasons that causes one’s blood to boil is that these individuals who we have elected in the Senate want to take our money and not give us what we need to stay healthy and affirm our humanity in God. NBCI’s Innovative Health Policy Plan for Our Nation calls for everyone to make a sacrifice, leaving no sacred cows, lower prescription drug prices and mental health services, and for the first time, lower premiums which neither the House nor Senate plans do.”
Here is an overview of the plan:
1. This plan deals with onerous taxes and regulations of the Affordable Care Act,
2. Mean testing some of our rich seniors without abandoning them,
3. A limit on liability,
4. Responsibility on those who use the system the most, the poor.
5. A lowering of health care premiums to 15% of income for working individuals and families,
6. A lowering of prescription drug prices without hindering innovative new drug and therapy development,
7. A complete analysis of the most expensive health care conditions of this nation, namely cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases, and a game plan for dealing with them at the time we need to deal with them, and
8. Five-billion-dollar plan to eradicate health disparities and focus on cultural competencies.
We have not dodged our moral commitment to providing healthcare for all. This plan is deeply written with compassion and love for everyone and does not favor anyone. Most importantly, this plan calls for the restoration of the 800-billion-dollar redirection of funding by the Affordable Care Act, the American Health Care Act, and the Better Reconciliation and Care Act. The redirecting of the 800 billion dollars is morally incomprehensible.
We will embrace God’s promise for our nation as stated in our Declaration of Independence that “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
