Nader On Health Care

Consumer advocate Ralph Nader urged consumers, nurses and doctors to take advantage of looming changes in the medical system to force creation of universal health care.

"As Yogi Berra said, `When you reach a fork in the road, take it,'" Nader told the California Nurses Association Monday.

A Green Party candidate for president, Nader said for-profit health maintenance organizations are "destabilizing themselves by their own greed."

"I think we are in a real transitory period, which gives us a real opportunity to recast our health care system in a nonprofit mode and implement universal health care," he told reporters before his speech.

Nader also said he doubts that Vice President Al Gore or Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the likely Democratic and Republican candidates for president, would push for "sound medical plans for every American."

"I see piecemeal, complex, inscrutable kinds of programs by two politicians who are afraid to take on" medical corporations, Nader said.

He said 47 million Americans lack health insurance and another 20 million don't have enough.

In 1996, with a $5,000 budget, Nader garnered 580,000 votes in the general election. This time around, he said he plans to raise several million dollars, qualify for federal matching funds and campaign actively.