There are a series of 9 rallies happening all across the state, locations, times and contacts for those rallies are below.
We (The Health Care for America Now Coalition) is hoping that you and your organization will helping to turn out your members and activists this Saturday.
"Health Care for the Holidays – Time to Make History"
Statewide rallies with the united theme "Health Care for the Holidays – Time to Make History" will be held in the following locations. (New details below) --You can download the flyers for 7 of the 9 cities. from this site :https://www.yousendit.com/download/MVNlZEV6SEJOQnpIRGc9PQ
Additional Details
- Folks attending the rallies in Seattle, Bellingham, Everett, Olympia, Spokane, Yakima, & Bremerton are asked to bring two holiday greeting cards, one addressed to Sen. Murray and the other to Sen. Cantwell. Please write a personal message requesting Health Care for the Holidays. There will be large boxes available in each location to deposit your greeting cards..
Ms. Lisa Yeakel with Seattle Channel 21 came through just like she said she would. Click on the live link below and be prepared to view our Town Hall, October 28th, Faith-Inspired Forum for Health Care Reform program. The program was beautifully filmed and edited so please enjoy!
"What would Jesus, the Prophet Mohammed, Moses, and the Buddha Do or Say about Health Care Reform in the United States?"
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
7:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave, Seattle 98101
Leaders from the three Abrahamic faiths and Buddhism will share teachings from their traditions, and then join a panel. Music: The Total Experience Gospel Choir,Rafe Pearlman,Ancient Sounds.
Panelists:
Ms. Patty Bowman Director, Social Outreach & Advocacy, St. James Cathedral
Rev. Leslie Braxton New Beginnings Christian Fellowship, Renton
Rev. Monica Corsaro Director of Social Justice Ministries, Church Council of Greater Seattle
Rabbi Ted Falcon, PhD Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue
Michelle Levey Author and Teacher of Buddhist Dharma Practices, WisdomatWork.com
Rev. Don Mackenzie PhD Minister in the United Church of Christ
Sheikh Jamal Rahman Muslim Sufi Minister, Interfaith Community Church
Moderator: Dave Ross, Talk show host, KIRO 97.3 FM radio
Schedule: 6:30Doors open.sponsors' exhibit tables open 6:50-7:20 Ancient Sounds meditative music
Free tickets will be available at the door if they haven't been sold out at Brown Paper Ticket.
Although there is no charge for this event; a free-will offering will help defray costs.
Contact: Richard Hodgin, Faith-Inspired Alliance for Healthcare Reform 206-729-8900rshodgin@comcast.net
Faith-Inspired Alliance for Health Care Reform sponsors this event to give space for hearing voices of local leaders in the faith-based community. We hope to add to the rising chorus of voices across the country demanding change in our broken health care insurance and delivery systems.
TR Reid, the Washington Post journalist and NPR commentator, spoke tonight at Town Hall, on his findings on health care around the world, made after 2 years traveling to different countries. This was one of the highlights of the health care reform debate! TR Reid's book should be required reading for everyone who has the slightest interest in what to do about health care in this country.
Reid says there are basically 4 different health care systems in the world:
1. The Beveridge Model, named after Lord Beveridge in England. This is what is used in the UK, among others, and if you're going to call any model socialist, this is it. It's single payer, universal coverage, with the government being the payer AND the provider of health care services, meaning the doctors and the hospitals are government owned. Does the US have this model? You bet. Check out the VA.
2. The Bismarck Model. Yes, that's Bismarck as in Chancellor Otto Bismarck from Germany. This is an employer-based system, with private health insurance paid through employers, often with employees and sometimes the government sharing the cost with the employers. Germany and France, among others, use this. So do those of us in the US who get their health insurance through their employers. The differences between the US version of this model and everyone else's version are (1) in other countries, the insurers, while private, are by law nonprofit; and (2) there is universal coverage in other countries, and (3) in other countries, EVERYONE is on the same system, instead of veterans in VA, seniors in Medicare, etc.
3. The Canadian Model. This is a single payer, universal coverage system, except that unlike in England, the doctors and the hospitals are not employed by or owned by the government. Do we have this system in the US? Yes, it's called Medicare. Do the Canadians have long waits for service? Not for emergencies or other life threatening problems, but yes, for elective care. But that's only because the Canadians elected to limit the number of the doctors and especially the number of specialists.
4. Fee for Service Model. Used in most of the undeveloped world, this simply means if you have the money to pay for a doctor or a hospital, you get health care. If you don't have the money, you don't. Do we have this system in the US? Yes, indeed! The 45 million American who are uninsured have this system.
Next January, Mexico will be offering universal health coverage to its citizens. Singapore tried a consumer-based health care system for a while. This is the type of system favored by a lot of free marketers--if only we as consumers had enough information, market forces would make the health care system work! It didn't work in Singapore, which has an educated population, excellent doctors, and plenty of money.
Why is health care so expensive in the US? Part of the reason is that instead of having just one system for everyone, we use all four systems. That's inefficient! And we know that within the private health insurance system, each insurance company has its own forms, computer programs, and different policies, requiring health care providers to hire several people to just keep track of it all.
Can we learn something about how to structure our health care system from the other industrialized countries in the world? Yes, we can. We just need the political will to do it. Why is the richest,most generous country in the world so lacking in the political will to make sure that all its citizens have access to health care? Mr. Reid said that that was the most baffling question.
This past January, when the first call for collecting healthcare stories came out, I tried to write down my own experience. At that time, I had just begun to get feeling and strength back in my right hand and was too overwhelmed with Pain and Confusion to even begin to wrap my mind around what I had been going through.
Some months later, I am happy to say that I am recovered enough to be moving on with my life, but some things that I went through were so unfathomably inhumane, I am compelled to fight for Reform to prevent others from having to endure it.
The details of my health challenge would take hours to explain as with any major injury or illness, the experience is complex. But the challenges to getting the care that I needed is what I would like to share with you.
For most of my life, I have been Basically Healthy with a minimal use of medical interventions. This is part of why I was so shocked at what happened when I entered into the medical system. I knew there were many problems with the system, but I didn’t know that it was designed to, quite literally, destroy your life.
I call my story a Nightmare in Triplicate. In April of 2006, I was 5 months from completing Graduate school. On my way to school one day, a woman missed a stop sign and t-boned my car. Later that day, in the hospital, I would never have imagined that it would take more than 3 years to put the pieces of my life back together.
At first my recovery was smooth. I spent the first 6 months learning to walk again and recovering from the head injuries. I plugged away at school, slowly, finding what used to be my daily tasks were taking a week or more.
By October, I had used up the entire $15,000 of personal injury protection from my car insurance and was shocked to discover that I was expected to accrue a balance for the remainder of my treatment until I was recovered enough to reach a settlement between my Auto Insurance and the insurance of the woman who hit me.
9 months after the accident, the pain in my right hand and arm which had been bothersome, but not overwhelming increased. I started losing sensation .leading to weakness, numbness, intense nerve pain and loss of function. My secondary insurance, a minimal policy I had through Grad school kicked in to cover the neurology appointments although the wait for the first appointment was almost 3 months.
It was 6 months before it was apparent what was wrong. After trying a number of modalities, it became clear that the damage was so severe that it would require a surgical intervention. Insurance covered all the tests/MRI's and Prescriptions during that time or so it appeared. I would discover later that they were actually waiting for their payment from the settlement as well.
The surgery would require I be taken care of for 4 months. Already I had used up all my savings and ran up two credit cards waiting to find out if I would ever get the use of my hand back again. I scheduled surgery and moved out of my apartment to be cared for by friends. 2 weeks before the surgery was scheduled, I got the first letter: Denial for coverage. Completely confused, I initiated the paperwork for a review…then an appeal… Then, on Dec 24th, Christmas Eve, I was sent a letter saying that I no longer Qualified for Insurance coverage.
It took 4 months of paperwork and negotiating, sometimes for 20 hours a week, to get back onto insurance. All the while, I was moving from friend to friend as I had no family in the area. I explored all my options, talked to all the groups and organizations I could find trying to understand how it was possible that in America, the only resources available to me was a list of women’s shelters and the local food bank. And even more than that, that my story was only one of thousands, many involving death and permanent disability all due to lack of access to care.
Once back on insurance, I pushed through with 3 layers of appeals until I finally reached someone who claimed in the end that it had been a "clerical error." 2 months later, I finally had the surgery.
The surgery was invasive and a long recovery in and of itself, with only a 50% chance of complete return of function. After already accumulating 9 months of expenses, staying with friends the whole time I had been waiting, the uncertainty and inhumanity of it all were almost too much to bear. 9 months of pain and pain killers 9 months of not-knowing if I would ever get my hand back 9 months of being treated as some kind of leech on society 9 months of wondering what I could possibly do in my life without a right hand that could pay off my debts. The amount I had owed for student loans had been doubled by medical and personal debt since the accident.
6 months after the surgery, this past January, slowly at first and then more quickly, function began to return, the pain began to subside and I was relieved to see Obama push healthcare to the forefront of the national consciousness because it had been at the forefront of my consciousness for nearly 3 years already!
In April, at the 3 year mark, I had recovered enough to begin the settlement process. The reckoning with the Auto Insurance company of the woman who hit me. Came to find out that there wasn’t enough money in the policy to cover the medical debts and legal fees, much less my personal debts.
3 years after the accident, I was finally recovered enough to finish school and start a career, but still headed for bankruptcy.
In closing I would like to share the two main lessons I learned in those three years:
1. When you are sick or injured, you don’t know what you need, so you need lots of help figuring it out. 2. Your close personal relationships are your most valuable resource.
So whomever you are standing next to tonight, whomever it is that you talk to most regularly during the week, be sure that it is someone who will take care of you when you are sick or injured because those are the relationships that need the be fostered and nurtured. Those are the jewels of your life, be sure to treasure them.
Misinformation and lies, as well as personal attacks on the President for his commitment to true reform of our county's critically ill health insurance system, are running rampant across our country.
It is time to stop the madness and Stand Up for Health Insurance Reform!
That is exactly what thousands of Washingtonians will do on Thursday, September 3rd at the "Stand Up! for Health Insurance Reform" rally starting at 6 p.m. at WestlakePark in downtown Seattle.
Will you join with Washington CAN! members and our partners at Organizing for America and Health Care for America NOW! to take this stand? With thousands of us standing together we will send a strong message to Congress as members return to the capitol from their summer recess: "Go back to D.C. and get the job done on health insurance reform!"
The Stand Up! for Health Insurance Reform rally at WestlakePark is one of a number of nationally coordinated events around the country on Sept. 3. During the rally, we will join millions in paying homage to Sen. Ted Kennedy, a life-long champion of health care reform.
Last month, in a passionate OpEd in Newsweek, Senator Kennedy said winning health care for all was "the cause of my life." Though he didn't live to witness his dream fulfilled, his life inspires us to carry on the fight and win health insurance reform this year.
Please join us on Thursday, Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. at Westlake Park, and add our voices to Sen. Kennedy's valiant fight for health insurance for all. With your help we can win this one for Teddy-and, at long last, guarantee everyone quality, affordable health care we can count on.
With over 35,000 members across the state, Washington CAN! is the state's largest grassroots community organization. Washington CAN! fights for progressive social change at the local, state, and national levels, with a focus on issues that most directly affect the lives of Washington residents. Our mission is to achieve economic fairness in order to establish a democratic society characterized by racial and social justice, with respect for diversity, and a decent quality of life for those who reside in Washington State.
You are receiving this message because you are a member of Washington CAN! or you have signed up to our free e-mail update service. If you have had this message forwarded to you and would like to continue receiving our action alerts, or you need to change the e-mail address to which these notices are transmitted, please email us at subscribe@washingtoncan.org. If you wish to no longer receive our e-newsletter, please click here
Hope you will join us to creatively express the true meaning of Healthcare! Please bring images and words that hold meaning for you about what is wrong with the system and what you would like to see instead. The event details are: Creating a Healthcare Collage Dragonfly Community Wellness Center - Fremont 760 N 34th St Seattle, WA 98109 Wednesday, 2 Sep 2009, 7:30 PM To sign up for this event, click here: http://pol.moveon.org/event/publicoptionnow/97884
Sharing this with everyone I know because it is one of the most coherent and succinct descriptions of the core issue in healthcare costs that I have found. Please share. Wishing you Wellness, Karah Pino, MAcOM
How to Rein in Medical Costs, RIGHT NOW
By GEORGE LUNDBERG
I believe that there are still many ethical and professional American physicians and many intelligent American patients who are capable of, in an alliance of patients and physicians, doing "the right things". Their combined clout is being underestimated in the current healthcare reform debate.
Efforts to control American medical costs date from at least 1932. With few exceptions, they have failed. Health care reform, 2009 politics-style, is again in trouble over cost control. It would be such a shame if we once again fail to cover the uninsured because of hang-ups over costs.
Physician decisions drive the majority of expenditures in the US health care system. American health care costs will never be controlled until most physicians are no longer paid fees for specific services. The lure of economic incentives to provide unnecessary or unproven care, or even that known to be ineffective, drives many physicians to make the lucrative choice. Hospitals and especially academic medical centers are also motivated to profit from many expensive procedures. Alternative payment forms used in integrated multispecialty delivery systems such as those at Geisinger, Mayo, and Kaiser Permanente are far more efficient and effective.
Fee-for-service incentives are a key reason why at least 30% of the $2.5 trillion expended annually for American health care is unnecessary. Eliminating that waste could save $750 billion annually with no harm to patient outcomes.
Currently several House and Senate bills include various proposals to lower costs. But they are tepid at best, in danger of being bought out by special interests at worst.
So, what can we in the USA do RIGHT NOW to begin to cut health care costs?
An alliance of informed patients and physicians can widely apply recently learned comparative effectiveness science to big ticket items, saving vast sums while improving quality of care.
Intensive medical therapy should be substituted for coronary artery bypass grafting (currently around 500,000 procedures annually) for many patients with established coronary artery disease, saving many billions of dollars annually.
The same for invasive angioplasty and stenting (currently around 1,000,000 procedures per year) saving tens of billions of dollars annually.
Most non-indicated PSA screening for prostate cancer should be stopped. Radical surgery as the usual treatment for most prostate cancers should cease since it causes more harm than good. Billions saved here.
Screening mammography in women under 50 who have no clinical indication should be stopped and for those over 50 sharply curtailed, since it now seems to lead to at least as much harm as good. More billions saved.
CAT scans and MRIs are impressive art forms and can be useful clinically. However, their use is unnecessary much of the time to guide correct therapeutic decisions. Such expensive diagnostic tests should not be paid for on a case by case basis but grouped along with other diagnostic tests, by some capitated or packaged method that is use-neutral. More billions saved.
We must stop paying huge sums to clinical oncologists and their institutions for administering chemotherapeutic false hope, along with real suffering from adverse effects, to patients with widespread metastatic cancer. More billions saved.
Death, which comes to us all, should be as dignified and free from pain and suffering as possible. We should stop paying physicians and institutions to prolong dying with false hope, bravado, and intensive therapy which only adds to their profit margin. Such behavior is almost unthinkable and yet is commonplace. More billions saved.
Why might many physicians, their patients and their institutions suddenly now change these established behaviors? Patriotism, recognition of new science, stewardship, and the economic survival of the America we love. No legislation is necessary to effect these huge savings. Physicians, patients, and their institutions need only take a good hard look in the mirror and then follow the medical science that most benefits patients and the public health at lowest cost. Academic medical centers should take the lead, rather than continuing to teach new doctors to "take the money and run".
Physicians can re-affirm their professionalism and patients their rights, with sound ethical behavior without undue concern for meeting revenue needs. The interests of the patients and the public must again supersede the self interest of the learned professional.
George D. Lundberg MD, is former Editor in Chief of Medscape, eMedicine, and the Journal of the American Medical Association. He's now President and Chair of the Board of The Lundberg Institute
Richard and Jeri Hodgin, and Dick Birnbaum and Pam Okano joined with Pam's co-workers at the Reed McClure law firm at Food Lifeline's north facility to help sort and pack more than 2.5 tons of food (enough for more than 4400 meals) for foodbanks in the Seattle area. Food Lifeline is Washington's largest hunger relief agency. For more information, go to http://www.foodlifeline.org/.
The 65th Street Change Gang sponsored a Town Hall health care forum on May 16th. Seattle Channel 21 taped that program and it is now available for your viewing pleasure on the live link below. It can also be viewed "live" on Seattle Channel 21 and please see the schedule listed below.
American Podium: Winning Health Care for AllA community event designed to illuminate the dialogue around America`s health care crisis and shape a future in which health care is a right provided to all. "Winning Health Care for All", features a short talk by U.S. Congressman Jim McDermott entitled, "Health Care for All: If not now, when?" Congressman McDermott will address audience questions before joining in a panel discussion with health care advocates Reverend Bev Spears, Legislative Director, Washington Community Action Network, David McLanahan, M.D., Western Washington Coordinator, Physicians for a National Health Program and Teresita Batayola, CEO, International Community Health Services.
Thanks to all of you who helped make this program possible. Special thanks to Seattle Channel 21 and AM 1090 Progressive Talk radio.
We will reach thousands of folks with this timely, informative public forum.
On June 30, Washington Public Campaigns sponsored a public forum on achieving health care for all. Panelists included a public health academic, a community health representative, a labor union leader, a citizen activist, a state legislator, and a public campaign finance activist. The program will be broadcast at some point on the Seattle Channel. Here are some highlights.
We spend $2.3 trillion on health care: every single $ is someone's income. For affordable health care, health care providers/vendors are going to have to make less. In other western countries, health care systems have two common characteristics: (1) they insure everyone, no exceptions, and (2) the government controls most of the money going into the system. In contrast, in this country, (1) not everyone is covered, and (2) thousands of different entities have a piece of the pie, are accountable only to themselves, not to the system, and therefore can simply pass the problems on to others. The current system allows people to make money, but is not so good for patients.
Community health centers are part of the solution. Massachusetts' experience, however, shows there are not enough primary care physicians. Congress seems to recognize this. Each proposal being considered contains incentives for medical students to go into primary care.
The union leadership is more liberal than the membership. Although costly health care takes away from wages, the average rank 'n' file person doesn't see any immediate problems with the current system. Union members are often worried about such things as socialism, lack of choice, etc. They are threatened by change. Consequently, the AFL-CIO can't support a single payer system right now. The union is against taxing of benefits. Leadership's goal is to convince the rank 'n' file that the public option will help others that they know. The public option is the way to eventual single payer.
Even the best care scenario for the public option will save only 9% compared to single payer. The typical mindset of opponents to reform falls within one of 3 categories (1) the independent/self-reliant person: I can take care of myself and don't need anything from anybody and don't need to help anybody; (2) the personal responsibility person: I take good care of myself and don't have to worry about health care; and (3) the entreprenuer: health care should be run like every other business in the marketplace. To convince people to get over their fears, they have to be persuaded to view health care as public goods (for example, police, fire, and library services) as opposed to market goods.
Public financing of election campaigns is critical.
We are paying 50% more in health care costs than the next most expensive system. Our system pays for episodes, not for health care. For example, ever wonder why hospitals release patients so soon? Because the payment system encourages it and then if the patient gets worse because he or she was released too soon, the hospital gets paid again. The pending proposals contain the "bundling" concept in which providers would not be paid on a fee for service basis, but on a fee for outcome.
But how do we end up with a uniform payment system that pays for "health care." Over the years, many have tried, but they have never gained traction on a widespread basis.
The system is rife with inefficiencies but not because of overhead. Rather, because ndividuals want the best health care possible and so they want every test, every examination. People are not interested in managed care.
We have to stop treating health care as a commodity that is part of the market economy.
A large contingent of 65th Street Change Gang members attended the Organizing for America Listening Tour at the Seattle Labor Temple. The purpose of the tour seemed to be to gather input from supporters about how best to organize the volunteers for future efforts. The 70 or so participants divided into break out groups to answer the following four questions:
1. How can we connect our national priorities of education, health care and energy reform in 2009 with local issues in our own communities?
2. What resources do we have in our community to assist our goals as OFA volunteers?
3. What resources do we need in our community to assist our goals as OFA volunteers?
4. What should OFA look like at the end of 2009?
Notes from the break out groups and the answers provided to the questions will be sent to OFA for further review.
Richard Hodgin Report on our event, “Winning Health Care for All:
164 people showed up / The Seattle media recorded it and will play event on TV. Also Radio will do and a Pod cast will be available. Liked Brown Paper Tickets. Process Fee $1.11 on each $8 ticket was good. In retrospect wished we’d charged $5 rather than $8 per ticket: might have had more folks attend (amt psychologically more appealing). Good idea = getting emails out to large group of nurses at the last minute, asking them to come. A member reported hearing talk about the event and concluded we made a good impression. State Rep McDermott was “really pleased” and Reverend Bev was great in the role of panel moderator. She called Richard several times to get all the facts; she was very prepared. Richard expressed gratitude with how everyone and everything worked so well at the event. Also he commented on the tables, which were set up, created “a buzz” and the synagogue’s wonderful participation. Tee Shirts Project – acquired and there’s more discussion We then turned to future planning: Folk Life Festival – volunteers to advertise the May 30th March & our group Discussion on how to be effective (accomplishing our goals). Disseminating information – i.e., Handing out the cards advertising the march and saying, “We need you to be there.” Need to Lobby for a true non-profit plan (AMA, this week, endorsed the single-payer system Contacting our Representatives by any form of communication; in person most desirable. Burke Gilman Trail Event New Obama Team Organizers – at Labor Temple, 2800 1st Ave, Seattle, Monday, June 01, 6 – 8 p.m. Brainstorming about how to get more name recognition (work on the web): Chain letter idea, join Community site and use 65th as key word, etc.
Respectfully submitted, Elin Bengtson-Leiter 27 May 2009 Please edit, correct as needed.
Almost half the world lives on no more than $2 per day. Many are small business people--a fish seller in Tanzania, a mechanic in Lebanon, a seamstress in Vietnam. One way to help is to join the 65th Street Change Gang Kiva Lending Team and make a microloan on www.kiva.org. As we all know from the current economic situation, the availability of credit is essential for businesses. For as little as $25, you can join forces with others from around the world to combine funds to make a small loan (usually anywhere from $250 to $2500) to a needy business person to help grown their business.
Unlike many microfinance organizations, you can pick a specific person or group to lend to. The Kiva website makes it easy to search for borrowers in specific countries or regions, by gender, by repayment term, and by work sector (for example, agricultural, food production, retail). You will be notified by e-mail each time an installment payment on the loan is made.
This is not charity (although, if you prefer, you can donate to Kiva for its administrative costs and receive a charitable deduction). Nor is it a money-making proposition for lenders--you will not get interest on the loan.
Kiva cannot guarantee repayment. However, based on historical data, you have roughly a 98% chance of getting your money back, as the borrower repays the loan over time (typically between 6-14 months). I've made several loans over the past 2 years and so far, all have either been repaid or are in the process of timely being repaid.
As loans are repaid, they are credited to your account, where you can either add money and make a new loan, wait until the loan is totally repaid to make a new loan, or take your money back out. If you have more than one loan, you can combine the repayments to make additional loans before your original loans are fully repaid.
The 65th Street Change Gang Kiva Lending Team is open to anyone--we currently have 14 members, 4 of whom are not in the Change Gang. Lending teams are just a fun way to challenge yourself and your friends to make loans. Your money remains segregated from other team members' and you choose what loans you would like to make. So far, we've made 31 loans totaling $950. We'd like to get into the four figures!
How to start? Go to http://www.kiva.org/community/viewTeam?team_id=4189 to join the lending team. Then browse through the loans available and select one. Occasionally, Kiva runs out of loans, but check back frequently, because borrowers are often being added around the world every few minutes.
You will need to be willing to use your credit card online. If you would prefer not to, please contact me and we can work something out. If you can't figure out the website or have other questions, please contact me.
This blog post is part of Zemanta's "Blogging For a Cause" campaign to raise awareness and funds for worthy causes that bloggers care about.
A.The Honorable Jim McDermmot, US House of Representatives
There are 50 million people without health coverage.In addition to these, 25 million more are underinsured—they have insurance but it is so inadequate that they would almost be better off without it.
We say that we have the best health care in the world, but the U.S. is 37th in the world in health outcomes such as infant mortality, longevity, etc.In 2005 we spent $6600 per person for health care.For half that, Canada covers everyone, and Canada is not alone.
The percentage of health care offered by employers has fallen 9%.Between 2000 and 2005, the number of Americans with health insurance has fallen by 1%, but employment with health insurers has gone up 32%.
Recently health insurers claimed that they would agree to save $2 trillion, but are now trying to backpedal from this representation.We can’t count on the insurers; they know they have to come to the table because something is going to happen.
The last time health care reform was tried was in 1993.The insurance industry ran the Harry & Louise ads, making the public afraid.But today even the insurers are calling for reform. Rep. McDermott is guardedly optimistic.
The best health care system in the world is in France.The French spend 50% of what the US does.There is 1 physician for every 430 persons in France; in comparison, in the U.S., there is 1 physician for every 1230 persons.
As people live longer, there are a lot more chronic illnesses.The right people to manage chronic illnesses are primary care physicians.We can’t increase the number of primary care physicians until we alleviate the problem of the crushing cost of going to medical school.Doctors drive debt in the system.They’re the ones who make the decisions. Because of the debt they incur in medical school, they gravitate toward specialty practices to pay off the debt.Medicine has become a profession where people think of dollars all the time.
Representative McDermott has submitted a bill that would make medical school tuition free.Forty-five thousand enter medical school annually.They would get free tuition in return for 4 years of public service in the medical field.Assuming President Obama is reelected, during the remaining 7 years of his administration, there would be 315,000 new primary care physicians.That would change the profession drastically.
Advocates of the single payer system would like to get reform in just one step.Obama, however, saw what happened to Hillary Clinton when she tried that.Obama has thus adopted the two-step approach:the President has told us that if you have insurance and you like it, you can keep it, and we’ll do something for everyone else.
The something else is the public option.What are we going to get with the public option?
Five hundred thousand families each month are losing health insurance because of unemployment caused by the bad economy.So when we talk about the public option, we’re not talking about “them”, we’re talking about “us.”
What’s going to go into the public option?Insurance companies want to put everyone in the public option who is sick or who would cause problems.They want to make the public option a dumping ground.
Reimbursement levels are an issue.Currently, we don’t pay doctors to talk with the patients.Doctors are instead paid for tests and procedures.We have to rethink how doctors are paid to change this system.
The father of modern medicine said, “Listen to the patient—he will tell you what’s wrong”, but that is not what is happening.
To get reform, we need to keep the pressure on.Pay attention to what’s going on.Let your representatives know what you think.Before this, business, the medical profession, and even some unions weren’t interested in changing the health care system.Now they are.But to get it done, we need to keep the pressure on.
You do your part, and I’ll do mine.
B.Dialogue Between Rep. McDermott and Rev. Bev Spears, Moderator
Q.You’ve met with President Obama?
A.The Progressive Caucus met with him.Two or three made presentations to the President about the need for a strong public option, one designed for everyone.The President said he wants a public option.He has a lot of political capital and will need to spend some of it to get things changed.The insurance and pharmaceutical companies do not want change.
Q.The House version has a public option, the Senate seems more tenuous.
A.It’s not going to be easy.It will be a tough job bringing people together.Leadership says there will be a bill by 6/1, and that it will be on the floor by July.But congressional committees get caught up with infighting.We need to keep people focused.We know something has to happen.The factors are present that will make people drive to a compromise.
Q.The public option as a bridge.Is that because single payer isn’t going to happen?
A.Once the president told people with health insurance that they didn’t have to change, that cemented the insurance industry into whatever happens.
The single payer system is not complicated.Single source—everyone gets coverage.But once the insurers are in it, costs go up.There are many insurers, which means many different forms and procedures—it’s a reason why we pay more.If there is a good public option, that will wither away.
When FDR came to power, unemployment was at 25%.But it still took him 2 years to enact unemployment compensation.So the current timetable may be too ambitious, but we need to keep pushing and eventually we’ll get there.
Q.The budget crisis in the State.You got the Basic Health Plan enacted and now 40,000 have to be cut from that program.
A.WashingtonState has tried as hard as anyone.I did, Phil Talmadge did, Mike Lowery did.The health care system in Canada began in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.Once it was established there, it spread until the entire country had it 20 years later.But in our country, one problem with starting on a state-by-state basis is ERISA.That federal law says that multistate companies can’t be forced to do anything by individual states.We could do a public option at the state level if we were willing to do something about ERISA, but that would be very difficult.
Q.It seems that minorities have more health care barriers.
A.It’s the right of all Americans to be covered and that has to be there from the start.Some countries have the right to health care in their Constitutions.We need to spend more dollars on preventative care, which would cut down later on more costly problems.We could use alternatives to MD’s, such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, etc.We need more primary care level practitioners of various types to deal with the volume.
Q.What about immigrants, including people without papers?
How can you run a hospital and refuse somebody??In Germany, you’d be in.And children, how can you refuse children? It would be un-American.
If you have something you want to change, put your foot in the door, then your knee, then your leg, and pretty soon you’re in the door.
We won’t get everything we want, but life isn’t that way.You only get out of the political process what you push your representatives to do.
I recommend a book entitled, “Do Not Resuscitate” by John Geyman.
C.Question/Answer Session (audience questions)
Q.What about alternative health providers?
A.We need to change the way we pay people to emphasize the preventive aspects.Fifteen minutes and a few pills could prevent $15-$20,000 episodes.The emphasis has to be on primary care.
Q.How committed is the President to universal care and how come he is not pushing single payer?
A.He wants to be sure we get this thing going and not get undermined. He had to tell people, if you like what you have, you can keep it.The President decided not to take on everything all at once, but in pieces.It’s like you can’t eat the whole elephant all at once.You have to go bite by bite.
Q.Medicare and Medicaid are limited.Will the public option also be?And what about dental?
A.To have a real public option, you have to have generous benefits the private options have—about 20% more than Medicare.That’s why Medicare recipients have to buy Medigap policies.
Even if you have insurance that pays 80%, what if you have a $500,000 bill, which is hardly unusual.You’d still be stuck with a $100,000 bill you’d have to pay out of your own pocket.
The public option has to cap out of pocket expenses.And if there’s no dental care, that can lead to medical problems.The public option needs to provide at least a basic dental plan.What Congress has, by the way, is not as good as some of the private plans.
Q.What are the differences between your bill and the Congress’s bill?
A.The Congressional bill puts everyone into Medicare.My bill requires each State to have the same benefit package, but gives each state the funds to create their own delivery plans.For example, WashingtonState has Group Health, but not everyone does, so each state has to figure out how to deliver the services.
Q.What about funding?
A.Financing is always the question.In 1993 we spent $950 billion on health care. A suggestion was made for a 10% payroll tax.Most businesses were spending 12-13% for their health care plans.Only Chrysler was interested in the 10%.Now businesses are paying 16% and realize that that will continue to increase.
We need some sort of tax according to ability to pay, for example, like the Social Security tax.The system is going to cost money.It will not be for free.Right now, the employer pays and gets a tax writeoff.The employee gets benefits and also gets a tax benefit.
It’s better to have the pubic decide how to finance the plan, rather than have the insurers, who will run up the premiums.
D.Rachel Berkson, SEIU
There will be a May 30 march, which will be part of a national network of demonstrations in April and May, culminating in Washington, D.C. on June 25.Go to http://www.may30march.org/.We must achieve health care reform in 2009.There are 150 organizations sponsoring the march.Five thousand are expected at the minimum, but we need more to make sure the politicians hear us.Each person should bring 10 persons.It begins at PrattPark and goes to WestlakeCenter.There will be big name speakers.
E.Panel Discussion
Teresita Batayola, CEO, International Community Health Services
We’re in a fight for survival. It has been a crisis for many decades. Community health services have existed for 30 years and funding has been extremely limited at times, but especially now.Reform has to take place now because they’re in survival mode for the next 2-3 years.
Forty thousand will lose coverage under the Basic Health Plan.These are the working poor.Under the Basic Health Plan, they pay premiums and copays; it isn’t a give away.And Basic Health, like Medicare and Medicaid, isn’t perfect.These coverages are all limited.
Expect 900,000 to be uninsured by the end of this year.
Access for all is the first and foremost principle.Also we are interested in comprehensive and preventative care.Access for all to the ER is not enough.Any solution should include community-based care that includes a healthy environment, etc.
Quality of care is also important.And we need cultural and linguistic competence.
Recently the State cut $1 billion from health care.Community health centers are consequently seeing a massive increase in patients.They cannot be turned away, but where will we get the resources?
Private insurers are not interested in the most vulnerable, who can’t afford it anyway.
David McLanahan, M.D., Physicians for a National Health Program
Single payer activists—the Baucus 16—were arrested at the Senate Finance Committee.A majority of Americans support single payer, but the powerful have a chokehold on politicians. To change this, we need campaign financing reform.
The change we need must come to Washington, not from Washington.The President has punted to Congress.
Still, we have taken a significant step forward for single payer.The Baucus committee protest has engendered much publicity and now Ed Schulz of MSNBC is promoting it.
The medical industrial complex says it will voluntarily reduce costs, but where are the changes in their business practices to offer to the sick, not just to the well?There are no specifics, or enforcement, or accountability.Is this a smoke screen behind which Congress can hide?Is it the death knell to the public option?
After Watergate, Congress reformed presidential campaign finance, but not congressional campaign finance.Kerry and Obama didn’t even take public money.Only the people can get campaign financing done.Congress won’t do it.It will have to be done locally, by initiative.
F.Questions from the audience:
Q.How should the state and the federal governments work together on health care reform?
A.Senate Bill calls for implementation by 2013.You have to keep the heat on Congress.You need to make full use of the Internet to keep the pressure on.The demise of newspapers is a real problem.We need investigative reporting.And it has to be beyond just the state level. California keeps trying, but hasn’t made it yet.Community organizations around the country have to band together to keep pushing.
Both Washington senators, Murray and Cantwell, head key committees for health care reform.The Governor needs to work with them.But each person must learn what’s going on and contact their congress/senate representatives.
The original goal was 2012, now it’s 2014.In the last two years, single payer bills have been introduced, but now we have the budget crisis, and although still on the table, they’ve been sidelined.
We’re in a situation where it’s “pay me now, or pay me later.”There has to be a federal income tax increase on the wealthiest.Making medical school free is an investment.We can nvest in highways, but not in people.
Microfinance/Other Public Interest Organization
Resource List
Nearly half the world’s population survives on less than $2 per person a day. Of these, many have less than $1 per day. The organizations below are committed to helping improve this deplorable situation. All were either presenters or had tables at the 2009 Pacific Northwest Microfinance Conference. Selected materials from the conference are available at www.spu.edu/depts/sbe/se/microfinance/sessions.
What is microfinance?Many poor people in underdeveloped countries do not have access to the financial services that most of us have—at least until recently—taken for granted. Business loans are one of these missing services. We all know now what happens to business when credit dries up! But in most developing countries, non-predatory credit has never been available to ordinary people. For example, in Mexico, even “legitimate” banks and lenders impose annual interest rates on poor borrowers that typically range from 50% to 120% a year, and less scrupulous lenders may charge much more. (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_52/b4064038915009.htm)
Microloans are small loans, typically anywhere from $100-$2500 or so. With such a microloan, a woman who sells tamales out of her home in Mexico can buy a cart to expand her territory. Or an Afghan farmer can buy more seed. Microloans are not charity, but place the borrower on a more equal footing with the lender.
Interest charged by microfinance institutions (MFI’s) is around 25%, considerably less than from local commercial lenders. Such interest rates are necessary because of the huge costs MFI’s run meeting with and checking up on borrowers of relatively small amounts who live in far flung remote areas. In Muslim areas, where interest is not allowed, fees are charged instead.
Kiva (http://www.kiva.org/) is the first of the online person-to person microfinance organizations. Based in San Francisco, Kiva was founded by a couple, Matt and Jessica Flannery. Matt grew up in Gig Harbor and still has family here.
Kiva has loaned more than $70 million in just a few years, with a minuscule default rate of 1.8%. Kiva does not charge interest itself, so lenders will not receive a financial return on their principal. Kiva does, however, partner with local MFI’s to give those MFI’s an online outlet to the lender world.
For as little as $25, you can participate with others from around the world to make microloans to specific needy small businessowners in other parts of the world. You can select the borrower. Based on historical data, you have a roughly 98% chance of being repaid. At that point, you can make another loan or get a refund of your money. If you make more than one loan at a time, you can use the combined repayments from the loans to make additional loans if you so choose.
If you prefer, you can make a charitable donation to Kiva for its administrative expenses.
One fun way to participate in Kiva is to join a lending team. Just as you would if you didn’t belong to the lending team, you select the loans you want to make, the money remains yours, and is not commingled with other team members, but the loan counts toward the team total.
Join the 65th Street Change Gang Kiva Lending team at http://www.kiva.org/community/viewTeam?team_id=4189. It’s open to anyone, not only members of the Change Gang. For more information and tips on how to participate, contact me at pokano@rmlaw.com. I will be happy to answer any questions you might have or even come to your house to guide you through the online process. If you are leery of using your credit card online, contact me—we can work something out.
RESULTS (www.results.org or www.resultsseattle.org) has been characterized by more than one person as the most important nonprofit you’ve never heard of. With chapters in the United States (including Seattle) and other countries, this 20+ year-old organization is devoted to ending hunger and poverty around the world. Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner, is on its board.
RESULTS is currently campaigning globally for education, economic opportunity, global health, and IMF/foreign aid reform. It has both a lobbying wing and a 501(c)(3) public education wing. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has said, “If members of RESULTS aren’t talking about it, we won’t hear about it.”
The organization is promoting microfinance as a part of its economic opportunity and foreign aid agenda. Dr. Yunus has said of RESULTS that “no other organization has been as critical a partner in seeing to it that microcredit is used as a tool to eradicate poverty and empower women.”
One of my former colleagues, Bob Dickerson, is an active member. If you would like to get in touch with Bob, contact him at (206) 285-0375 or resultsbob@yahoo.com and let him know you heard about RESULTS from me. Local meetings are held at the Wallingford United Methodist Church, 2115 N 42nd Street (at Bagley) in Seattle. Their next meetings are on 5/13, 6/17, 7/15, 8/12, 9/16, 10/14, 11/18, and 12/9, from 7 pm to 9 pm. They also have monthly national conference calls with speakers of note. Local members may participate in these calls. Volunteers or donations are welcome.
Agros International (www.agros.org) is a unique Seattle-based nonprofit that focuses on promoting land ownership by the rural poor in Chiapas, Mexico, and Central America. The organization buys up land and sells it to poor farmers, who would otherwise never have a chance to own their own land. So far, Agros has assisted 38 different villages. Agros’ approach is holistic: in addition to making land purchases available, the organization also provides assistance in community building, health care, education, adult literacy, spiritual growth, housing, community structures, irrigation, and sustainable economic growth. You can donate, buy items such as livestock or irrigation pipe, or volunteer.
The organization was founded by Skip Li, a local attorney. I knew Skip when he was Dan Evans’ general counsel in the Office of the Governor.
Esperanza (www.esperanza.org) is also a Seattle-based organization, devoted to community-based sustainable development for the elimination of poverty in the Dominican Republic. Founded by former Seattle Mariners’ catcher, Dave Valle, the organization provides financial services through microloans, literacy courses, vocational training, and health care services.
Esperanza is a Kiva field partner. You can make microloans to Esperanza clients at www.kiva.org, or you can donate directly to Esperanza.
Acholi Beads (http://acholibeads.com/) This is a for-profit organization dedicated to assisting the Acholi women of Uganda form a cooperative for the manufacture and sale of Acholi beadwork, made from tightly wound strips of recycled paper. The Acholis are refugees from the longest-running war in Africa. You can see and buy the beadwork online. If you would like to see a sample upclose, I have a bracelet I can show you.
Grameen Foundation (www.grameenfoundation.org) This nonprofit assists microfinance organizations in promoting and growing microfinance. Its technology division is based in Seattle. The technology division established the Village Phone Initiative, creating thousands of cellphone microbusinesses that provide vital communication sources for remote African villages and needed income for the phone operators. The foundation has also developed open source software for MFIs, provided capital for MFIs, produced a series of white papers and manuals on microfinance, and created a Progress out of Poverty Index to track poverty reduction among borrowers. The Seattle Technology center can use volunteers to, among other things, translate their open source software into other languages, collect product requirements, perform market research, and assist with graphic & web design.. Contact (206) 325-6690. You can also donate.
Unitus (http://www.unitus.com) also assists microfinance organizations by providing business, leadership, technical, and technological assistance. Unitus takes donations.
Wokai (http://www.wokai.org/index.php) is a brand new MFI that focuses on making microloans in China. It appears to be more along the Kiva model than the Visionfund or Hope International model.
Oikocredit (http://www.oikocredit.org/site/en/) began in Europe and has a U.S. branch. Unlike Kiva, in which your loan does not earn you interest, Oikocredit sells shares, allowing you to invest with the opportunity to make a small return in microfinance. Currently returns are capped at about 2%.
VisionFund (www.visionfundinternational.org) is the microfinance arm of World Vision. Unlike Kiva, you cannot select the borrower and you won’t get your money back. The money will go to funding microloans to unspecified groups or individuals and repayments will go toward future microloans.
Hope International (http://www.hopeinternational.org) is a Christian-based microfinance organization. It appears to operate similarly to Visionfund International.
Global Washington (http://www.globalwa.org) is a membership association that promotes and supports the global development sector in Washington State. Its members include nonprofits, foundations, businesses, governments, and academic institutions.
