Rev. Jesse Jackson Calls for Single-Payer Health Care System at Event To Promote Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Awareness

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, on Wednesday at an event in Miami said that the U.S. should implement a single-payer health care system to provide access to care for all residents, the Miami Herald reports. The not-for-profit foundation of UnitedHealthcare sponsored the event, the first in a campaign by the coalition to promote awareness among minorities in five cities about the Medicare prescription drug benefit. According to Families USA research, of the four million beneficiaries who had not enrolled in the drug benefit one week before the enrollment deadline, about two million were racial and ethnic minorities. In addition, the group in an April survey found that only 24% of blacks and Hispanics eligible for drug benefit subsidies had signed up. At the event, Jackson also said that Congress next year should seek to pass legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies for discounts on medications under the prescription drug benefit and to allow the reimportation of medications from Canada (Dorschner, Miami Herald, 12/7).