Jewish Alliance for Law
and Social Action - www.jewishalliance.org.
18
Tremont Street, Suite 320, Boston, 02108 - tel: 617-227-3000 fax:
617-227-3453
1 Sivan 5765 Legislative Alert on Health Care Reform June 8, 2005
Important Hearing and Advocacy day at the State House,
Today, Wednesday, June 8
Come and indicate
your support for comprehensive health reform.
Beginning at 9 am.
Gardner Auditorium
State House, Boston
9 AM - Arrival – Please allow plenty of time to go through security
10 AM
- Health Reform Hearing Begins – Gardner Auditorium
9 AM- Noon – Visit Your
Legislators’ Offices and Share Your Story
Noon - Rally for the Uninsured –
Nurses Hall
Urge support of health care reform
Expand Access,
Reduce Costs, Improve Quality
Jewish Values on Health Care (Thanks to
the Religious Action Center, www.rac.org.
for gathering these materials)
Our tradition teaches us that human life
is of infinite value and that the preservation of life supersedes almost all
other considerations. We, as Jews, believe that G-d endowed humanity with the
understanding and ability to become partners with G-d in making a better world.
The use of our wisdom to cure illnesses has been a central theme in Jewish
thought and history.
Providing health care is not just an obligation for the patient and the doctor, but for society as well. It is for this reason that Maimonides, a revered Jewish scholar, listed health care first on his list of the ten most important communal services that a city had to offer to its residents (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot De'ot IV: 23). Almost all self-governing Jewish communities throughout history set up systems to ensure that all their citizens had access to health care. Doctors were required to reduce their rates for poor patients, and when that was not sufficient, communal subsidies were established (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 249:16; Responsa Ramat Rahel of Rabbi Eliezer Waldernberg, sections 24-25.)
The Problem (from website of
Health Care for All-Ma, www.hcfama.org.
)
Health access and affordability is rapidly deteriorating. The number of
uninsured is quickly growing, especially among working adults. Premiums continue
to increase, and providers are forced to raise rates to make up for low payment
rates by the state. The quality of care varies, hurting patients and increasing
costs.
The number of uninsured in Massachusetts has increased by 25% in the last
four years.
At least 460,000 persons are uninsured in Massachusetts.
Action:
Come to
today's hearing and rally and show you are part of the critical mass of
the Commonwealth that says health reform must take place
this year. Let the leadership of JALSA know that you want to volunteer your time to work on health care reform. office@jalsa.org; 617-227-3000.
Continuing efforts in Massachusetts to improve access and quality of health care in the Commonwealth.
1-Efforts for Single Payer Health
Care
Massachusetts Campaign for Single
Payer Health Care (MASS-CARE) is a coalition of over 80
organizations, including the Mass Nurses Association, which are dedicated to
work for universal single payer health care in
Massachusetts.
Legislative lead sponsors: Sen.Steven Tolman and
Rep. Frank Hynes
The Massachusetts Health Care Trust Bill is now S.755.
MASS-CARE was organized in 1995 and can be contacted
at:
MASS-CARE
8 Beacon Street, Suite 26
Boston, MA
02108
800.373.1973
617.723.7001
masscare@aol.com.
http://www.masscare.org
LEGISLATORS -- are invited to a Briefing on S. 755,
The Massachusetts Health Care Trust Wednesday, June 15, 2005 10 AM
House Members Lounge.
Text of the bill at http://www.masscare.org/legis.htm
Sponsoring legislators listed at http://www.masscare.org/activist.htm
2-Efforts for a Constitutional
Amendment
In July 2004, State legislators took the first step
toward a constitutional amendment to "ensure that no Massachusetts resident
lacks comprehensive, affordable and equitably financed health insurance..." The
legislature must vote again in the 2005-2006 session on whether to allow the
initiative to appear on the November 2006 ballot.
The citizen initiative to
amend the state constitution is being advanced by the Health
Care for Massachusetts Campaign, and the Ad Hoc
Committee to Defend Health Care.
Barbara Roop, PhD, JD :: Campaign Co-Chair
John Goodson, MD :: Campaign
Co-Chair
Health Care for Massachusetts
Campaign
Email: webmaster@healthcareformass.org.
Phone:
617-868-1280
Web: http://www.healthcareformass.org
The Ad Hoc Committee to Defend Health Care
http://www.massdefendhealthcare.org/.
The Language of the Proposed Constitutional Amendment
SECTION 1: The People of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts hereby declare it necessary and expedient to alter the Constitution by the adoption of the following Article of Amendment:
Upon ratification of this amendment and thereafter, it shall be the obligation and duty of the Legislature and executive officials, on behalf of the Commonwealth, to enact and implement such laws, subject to approval by the voters at a statewide election, as will ensure that no Massachusetts resident lacks comprehensive, affordable and equitably financed health insurance coverage for all medically necessary preventive, acute and chronic health care and mental health care services, prescription drugs and devices.
3- Recent Legislative Efforts at Reform
Senate President Travaglini issued a challenge on November 16th. He urged that the number of uninsured be reduced by half as an immediate goal. The Senate plan would increase reimbursements to health care providers who treat the uninsured by $90 million a year for four years - $45 million of state money to be matched each year by the federal government, create market incentives by making information about health providers more accessible to consumers, and restore the state’s investment to certain prevention programs. The state will also invest $25 million in programs such as cancer screening and tobacco cessation. Total new costs for the program would be about $100 million.
The Governor agreed on the importance of dealing with health care, making proposals for expansion of MassHealth to part-time workers and the unemployed. The Governor's proposal would aim to meet the costs of his proposals without new taxes. Both the Senate President and the Governor stated they could reach their goals by allowing health insurers to offer less expensive policies with scaled-back benefits. The Governor's proposal, for example, would allow insurers to offer insurance without such expensive procedures as IVF treatments. See: http://www.massnews.com/2005_editions/4_april/40705_details_of_health_care_plan_emerge.htm.
A broad coalition of health advocates (including GBIO, MIRA, Mass. Medical Society, Health Care for All) issued an alternative proposal - The Health Access and Affordability Act (H. 2777, S. 738). (See summary below) Advocates believe that this proposal:
• Restores and expands MassHealth coverage
• Requires employers to provide
health coverage or pay a fee to the state
• Provides assistance to
individuals and small businesses
• Establishes fair payments to MassHealth
providers
• Builds state leadership on health care quality and cost
For full text of the bills: H2777, S738.
See: www.hcfama.org/_uploads/documents/live/Health_Access_and_Affordability_Act.pdf.
Lead
sponsors Sen. Richard Moore, Rep. Debbie Blummer
Additional information on these bills which are being heard today follow below.
4-The Special Commission to Eliminate Health Disparities
This is a special commission established by
the legislature to begin to deal with health disparities in the
Commonwealth. Remaining meeting dates on the calendar include June
14, 2004
and July 12, 2005. Topics for those dates are Workforce
Development/Diversity
· Physician diversity
· Nursing shortages
·
Allied health professions
Task of the Commission:
Review national and state racial and
ethnic disparities in health data
Develop a policy framework across multiple
sectors to eliminate racial disparities in health that would include
recommendations for policy, legislation and budget initiatives
Identify short
term and long term goals
Develop process to assess progress after the
Commission’s work concludes
Rep. Peter Koutoujian and Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, Co-Chairs
The Health Access and Affordability Act (H. 2777, S. 738).
The Act expands access to affordable coverage by:
Guaranteeing
coverage for individuals with household income less than 200% of the poverty
level by expanding access to MassHealth and providing premium assistance to
those with employer-sponsored insurance.
Expanding MassHealth coverage for children to higher levels, up to 300% of the poverty level
Improving access to coverage for working individuals by providing a sliding scale subsidy for people with incomes between 200-400% federal poverty level; and requiring employers to facilitate voluntary enrollment of all uninsured employees into a coverage option.
Requiring employers who do not cover their workers to pay an assessment based on their total payroll.
Low-wage small businesses will receive extra deductions against their assessment.
The Act reduces health care costs by:
Requiring MassHealth
reimbursement rates to be based on fair costs to reduce cost-shifting, where
providers are forced to raise rates to make up for inadequate payments by
government.
Reinsuring catastrophic health costs for individuals and small businesses, lowering premiums.
Establishing an expanded and simplified Insurance Partnership program to provide additional subsidies to small businesses.
Reducing use of the Uncompensated Care Pool.
Developing a healthier risk pool through the expansion of affordable
coverage.
The Act improves the quality of health care by:
Convening a state
board to set annual quality improvement and cost reduction goals.
Establishing a community health worker program to provide information on access resources and healthy behaviors, particularly in minority and underserved communities.
The Act identifies potential funding sources such as continuation of existing spending, new federal funds, assessments and premiums, and a 50-cent tobacco tax increase.
ACTION
Where does your legislator stand
on this bill?
http://www.massact.org/news.asp.
to see if your legislator is a sponsor of the Bill.
For more information, go to www.hcfama.org.
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