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WHEREAS, Health care in the United States is a national disgrace and in the throes of a crisis of cost, accessibility and quality; and

WHEREAS, Health insurance premiums skyrocketed over 10% in 2005 and more than 80% of all employers increased employee co-payments and premium contributions; and in many cases restricted access and care, and

WHEREAS, These increases have helped sustain a climate of concessionary bargaining, pushing down our wages, causing bitter strikes and lockouts and shifting more and more of the costs onto the backs of workers; and

WHEREAS, Tens of thousands of our retired members stand to lose all or part of their hard won "lifetime" health coverage as 80% of all large companies have plans to require retirees to pay more for their coverage, and 20% of Fortune 500 companies plan to eliminate it altogether; and

WHEREAS, The employment based system of health coverage puts our benefits at risk every time we face a lay-off, change our job or go on strike; and

WHEREAS, All other industrialized countries provide comprehensive coverage to all citizens regardless of employment status, putting U. S. manufacturing employers and workers at a global competitive disadvantage; and

WHEREAS, More and more of our friends, neighbors and family members have no health coverage at all as the number of uninsured Americans climbs past 45 million; and

WHEREAS, Americans pay more for healthcare than any other country in the world and yet we rank 28th in infant mortality, 24th in life expectancy and our freedom of choice and access to services is controlled by the profit driven dictates of HMO's and "managed care"; and

WHEREAS, USW International Union is proud of the pioneering leadership of our late union brother, Tony Mazzocchi, whose lifelong advocacy led to the development of the Just Health Care program for addressing this crisis; and

WHEREAS, a National Single payer health care plan would provide cradle-to-grave coverage for all Americans through a public insurance fund and a private health care system with free choice of doctors, hospitals and clinics; and

WHEREAS, By taking the profit out of health care and incorporating a fair financing system, we will ensure a just transition for all displaced health industry workers while providing that 95% of all taxpayers will save money; and

WHEREAS, The late Senator Paul Wellstone was made a lifetime honorary member of our Union, in part because of his uncompromising advocacy of a universal, single payer health care reform and his belief that all Americans have a right to quality health care; and

WHEREAS, The dedication, spirit and activism of Brother Mazzocchi and Brother Wellstone should be carried forward and honored through our education, action and mobilization on this issue; now,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: That the Region X District Council, consisting of Local Unions and retirees representing over 75,000 workers and their families supports "The National Health Insurance Act" HR 676 , shall commit to leading a nationwide organizing and educational effort to establish cradle-to-grave single payer national healthcare where individuals select their own providers and where there are no premium costs, no co-pays, no deductibles, no insurance forms, no hassles and where there is Just Health Care.