ISSUES & FORUMS

PACG Health Care Forum:

The goal of this forum is to achieve "quality affordable health care for all" in Iowa, Illinois, with special emphasis on educating, engaging, energizing, and mobilizing the residents of the Quad Cities as well as on engaging in the political process. Top Priorities: public awareness, public pressure, and public policy. Contact Karen Metcalf, 563-355-0093.

Meetings: The 1st Tuesday of every month at 7pm - Davenport Unitarian Church, 3707 Eastern Ave.

Iowa Health Care Reform Principles Approved

The Affordable Health Care Plans for Small Businesses & Families Commission met last week in Mason City. It voted unanimously to pass eight principles to guide the discussion. The principles unanimously agreed to by the commission's Mason City meeting are:

1: Coverage and care should be universal or near universal.

2: Coverage should be affordable and take into account all health care costs.

3: Everyone should have a medical home.

4: Health care should be accessible.

5: Financing should be a shared responsibility.

6: Reforms should drive quality improvements and contain costs.

7: Reforms should do no harm.

8: Reforms must be sustainable and doable.

View the principles and some further background rationale at Iowa Health Care Principles Click Health Care Commission to learn more about the work and schedule of the Commission.

Former Governors to Host Public Health Care Hearings

Former Iowa Governors Tom Vilsack and Terry Branstad will co-host several public hearings in September to gather suggestions from Iowans on how to reform our state's health care system. The events will occur in Council Bluffs on September 4, Indianola on September 26 and in Bettendorf on September 27.

"Living up to one of the great moral challenges of our time requires that we provide quality, affordable, and accessible health care for all of our citizens," former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack said

"The availability of affordable health care for Iowa small businesses and families is key to our state's future growth and the wellbeing of our families," former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad said.

The two former governors are acting in support of the bipartisan "Legislative Commission on Affordable Health Care Plans for Small Businesses & Families," which was created during the 2007 legislative session. The commission's mandate is to build a consensus for a reform effort to insure more Iowans, make health care affordable, and improve quality and access. The commission is made up of 10 legislators and representatives of medical providers, small businesses, individual consumers, and the insurance industry.

The public hearings will help gather the concerns and suggestions of Iowans from all walks of life. Each public hearing will last two hours. Those interested in presenting at one of the meetings may sign up on the premises beginning one half hour before the event.

Iowans who are unable to attend a hearing can provide testimony via the Internet by visiting the Commission's Web site at www.legis.state.ia.us and clicking on "Health Care Survey" or by mailing written comments to the Iowa Legislative Services Agency, Ground Floor, State Capitol Building, Des Moines, Iowa 50319, Attn: Health Care Commission Public Hearings.

The first meeting will take place from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 4, at Iowa Western Community College's Looft Hall, 2700 College Road, Council Bluffs.

Additional meetings will take place in Indianola on Sept. 26 and Bettendorf on Sept. 27. For further details, visit www.legis.state.ia.us and click on "Legislative Commission on Affordable Health Care" or call the Legislative Information Office at 515-281-5129.

Policy Project Report on Fixing Healthcare in Iowa

Iowa Policy Project senior research consultant, Colin Gordon, has issued a new report for the IFP, "Prescriptions and Placebos: Fixing Health Care in Iowa."

To view the report, executive summary, and press release - click.

In the Cedar Rapids *Gazette*, James Lynch reported that Gordon "recommended ... that Iowa lawmakers scrap the 'piecemeal' approach they've used in recent years if their goal is health care coverage that is affordable, accessible and maintains a high level of quality." From his story:

''Our health care financing system does not work, and it's understandable that state legislators see a need to step in,'' said Gordon, a senior research consultant for the Iowa Policy Project and co-author of the report -- Prescriptions and Placebos: Fixing Health Care in Iowa -- for the non-partisan Iowa Fiscal Partnership. ''They must be careful, however, to take a long-term view and not miss the underlying problem of spiraling health care costs.''

Previous efforts have encouraged employer-based coverage through tax credits, small-employer purchasing pools, mandates for large employers and other ideas, said Gordon, a historian who wrote ''Dead on Arrival: The Politics of Health Care in Twentieth-Century America.''

On their own, these proposals represent a fragmented approach to the problem that would do little to expand coverage or increase affordability, and could actually make things worse, he said.

''I really think that trying to patch up employer-based insurance is like moving furniture into a burning house. It guarantees double-digit inflation and rising uninsurance into the future,'' Gordon said.

We encourage your review of this new report as the Iowa General Assembly prepares to return to the Statehouse in January.

ONGOING PROJECT:

Lend A Hand For Health Care
18,000 Hands for Health Project - Sponsored by PACG Health Care Forum and Iowa For Health Care

Every year, 18,000 people in the US, age 25-64, die unnecessarily because they lack health insurance!

As a way to help people understand the reality of that statistic, we are collecting 18,000 handprints to represent those who lose their lives.

Once we reach our goal of 18,000 handprints, our hope is to take them to the statehouses in Des Moines and Springfield and then to Washingto, DC to display them as close as possible to the Capitol Building!

If you know of a church or other community organization that would be interested in participating in this project, contact Karen Metcalf at 563-355-0093 or karencadfael@aol.com.

PAST ACTIVITIES:

Report on Health Care Lobby Day in Des Moines
On February 7th, many health care advocates from across the state came together in association with Democracy For America, Democracy For Iowa and Iowa For Health Care for their first joint Health Care Lobby Day.

Among those in attendance from the Quad Cities were none other than yours truly, Caroline Vernon, Alta Price, Karen Metcalf, and Bev Strayhall. Although we are each connected to the larger groups mentioned above, we are also active members of Progressive Action for the Common Good Health Care Forum. Like Iowa For Health Care, our main goal is to promote quality, affordable health care for all.

Although we did not address the larger goal of obtaining good coverage for everyone, the purpose of our visit to the Statehouse was to engage our legislators on three very important pieces of legislation.

From the Institute of Medicine:

Assessing Proposals for Major Health Insurance
Reform Principles for Eliminating Uninsurance

The Institute of Medicine's Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance recommends five principles to guide reforms to extend health insurance to all Americans. The following list of questions can be used to measure how close proposals and strategies for extending coverage come to fulfilling these principles.

1. Health care coverage should be universal.
2. Health care coverage should be continuous.
3. Health care coverage should be affordable to individuals and families.
4. The health insurance strategy should be affordable and sustainable for society.
5. Health care coverage should enhance health and well-being by promoting access.

The five principles are presented in the committee's final report, Insuring America's Health. They are based on the findings of the committee?s earlier reports: Coverage Matters, Care Without Coverage, Health Insurance Is a Family Matter, A Shared Destiny, and Hidden Costs, Value Lost. These reports and more information about uninsurance is available at www.iom.edu/uninsured.

Action Alert on TennCare!

At this very moment, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen is executing the cruelest cutback of public health coverage in the history of our country. Every day, around two thousand people enrolled in TennCare, the state Medicaid program, are receiving letters of termination or reduction of benefits. Hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans—many of whom suffer from severe and chronic illnesses—are living in fear because of Governor Bredesen's decision to strip them of the only health care they have. Now, more than ever, they need your help.

To take action in support of TennCare sit-in: Families, USA website

For reports from TennCare sit-in: MCIL Journal

Thanks to everyone who participated in the health care forum at the April 16 summit. As Tom Higgins made very clear, we must focus on key issues if we want people to be pro-Progressive, and the most pressing of those issues for many of us is health care. Like Tom, I'm convinced that the only way to make real improvements in our health care non-system is to push for universal health insurance, so that was the direction I took the forum. But it's a long way from here to that goal, and we need to roll up our sleeves now if we want to get there.

We're very fortunate in Iowa to have Iowa for Health Care, which is part of Americans for Health Care; the goal of that group, sponsored by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is "Quality Affordable Health Care for All." Iowa for Health Care has a fairly large paid staff and some financial resources, and they provide a great organizational umbrella for those of us in the Quad Cities who share that goal.

Illinois for Health Care, although also part of Americans for Health Care and sharing the same ultimate goal, is just getting started, so we can't expect the same level of support from that organization at this time. Also, it's obvious that health care legislative issues are different at this time in Illinois and Iowa.

For more information, contact Karen Metcalf at karencadfael@aol.com.