Green Party leaders and candidates said today that the health care reform plans offered by Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are designed to benefit insurance and pharmaceutical corporations — including contributors to their own campaigns — rather than American people who need coverage and treatment.

The Green Party and its candidates strongly support the Single-Payer national health care plan, also called Medicare For All (http://www.gp.org/organize/sicko.html).

“Anyone who believes that Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will offer real reform in the next administration has been misled by the Democratic Party leadership and their shills in the media. Ms. Clinton and Mr. Obama are among the highest recipients of money from insurance firms, HMOs, and drug manufacturers [source: Center for Responsive Politics, http://www.opensecrets.org],” said Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States.

“Except for a handful who are marginalized by their own party, most Democratic candidates are running to prevent real health care reform. They intend to keep control over our health care in the hands of corporate insurance firms and HMOs who make their profits by denying treatment. That’s why over 45 million Americans don’t have health coverage and millions more can’t get the treatment they need even though they have insurance,” said Ms. Grage.

Ms. Clinton’s $110-billion-per-year ‘mandatory coverage’ plan would offer a gigantic subsidy for the HMO-insurance industry, while shifting the burden — and the blame for lack of coverage — onto people who desperately need health care. Mr. Obama rejects the Single-Payer option and has promised that his plan would sustain the HMO and insurance industry.

Greens noted that the 2008 Democratic and Republican national conventions will be funded by numerous corporate sponsors seeking favors from the next White House and Congress (“DNC sponsorships raise questions on motivations,” Rocky Mountain News, March 12, 2008, http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/may/12/dnc-sponsorships-raise-questions-on-motivations/).

The Green Party, which accepts no corporate contributions, will hold its national convention in Chicago, July 10-13 (http://www.greenparty2008.org). The candidates for the Green presidential nomination — Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, and Kat Swift — all support Single-Payer.

“There’s no incentive for either Democrats or Republicans to pursue real campaign finance reform and get corporate money out of politics and public policy, because they both benefit from the current system. The only way to shock the system and get real reform is by voting for Greens, giving a noncorporate party seats in Congress and state legislatures, and showing the Democrats that they can’t take their seats for granted,” said Bob Kinsey, Colorado Green candidate for the US Senate (http://www.kinseyforsenate.org).

“Greens are the only party with the solution for the health care crisis. Democrats and Republicans have nothing to offer when it comes to health care, except more denial of treatment, more financial ruin for working Americans who suffer a serious emergency, and big bucks for corporate cronies,” Mr. Kinsey added.

The Single-Payer/Medicare For All would guarantee every American health care regardless of age, income, employment, or prior medical condition; allow choice of health care provider; provide low-cost or no-cost treatment and prescriptions (including complementary and alternative medicine); and cost low- and middle-income Americans far less than they now pay for private or employer-based coverage by eliminating insurance and HMO company overhead. To contact Green health care leaders in the Green Party Speakers Bureau, visit (http://gp.org/speakers/healthcare.shtml).