Got a beef about health care? Tell it to the White House

Got a beef about health care? Tell it to the White House - without leaving Waco

By Cindy V. Culp Tribune-Herald staff writer

Thursday, June 04, 2009

If you have been itching to give President Barack Obama your take on how to reform the nation’s health care system, you’ll be able to do it without leaving town.

The local chapter of Organizing for America is hosting community meetings to gather grass-roots input about health care reform. Participants will be able to share their personal stories about health care access. They also will be asked to come up with local projects for an upcoming national day of service that will focus on promoting healthier communities, said Kelly McDonald, lead organizer for the U.S. 17th Congressional District.

Four hourlong meetings will be held in Waco starting Friday. Participants may complete a form describing their experiences with health care and offering ideas for how the delivery system can be improved. The forms will be forwarded to Obama administration officials developing reform proposals, she said.

Attendees who feel comfortable sharing their stories with the group also will be encouraged to do so, McDonald said.

“When you hear some of these stories yourself and learn about what some of the needs of your neighbors and the community are, you can understand the need for health care reform,” she said. “It’s a pretty casual, informal, unintimidating type of event.”

A fifth public event will be held June 20 during the local Juneteenth celebration at Indian Spring Park. Organizers will encourage festivalgoers to write down and hand in their stories and ideas, organizer LaShawn Brown said.

“We’re just hoping people will come out and understand that their voices are important, that this is the only way for us to know what their stories are,” Brown said.

Organizing for America is holding similar meetings across the country. The group was started by Obama supporters during his election bid and morphed into an issues campaign after he won, McDonald said.

The local chapter has hosted monthly events since the fall, she said. Topics have included Obama’s budget, the economy and health care.

Between 45 and 80 people have attended each of the events, McDonald said. Nearly all of them have been Democrats, she said, but the group is hoping health care reform is an issue that will get people of all political persuasions involved.

The upcoming meetings will be strictly nonpartisan, McDonald said.

“Cancer has no idea if you’re a Republican or Democrat,” she said.

Service projects

Besides giving input on health care reform, meeting participants also can float ideas about service projects to improve the community’s health, McDonald said. The weekend of June 27-28 has been designated as a time for national service, much like what happened on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January.

Some local residents are hosting private meetings — or “house parties” — to discuss health system reforms, McDonald said. Carmen Saenz, for example, is hosting a private event for students who attend McLennan Community College or its University Center, where students take classes at other colleges through MCC. The graduate student said one reason she wanted to have a gathering just for college students is because they are often uninsured and thus can have difficulty getting needed care.

cculp@wacotrib.com

757-5744

Schedule of public meetings

* 12:15 p.m. Friday in the Austin Auditorium at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, Loop 340 and Interstate 35.

* 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the R.B. Hoover Library, 1428 Wooded Acres Drive.

* 4 p.m. Saturday at the East Waco Library, 901 Elm Ave. (co-hosted by the Cen-Tex African American Chamber of Commerce).

* 7: 15 p.m. Wednesday in the Austin Auditorium at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, Loop 340 and I-35.

* Noon to 5 p.m. June 20 at Indian Spring Park.

To make a reservation (not required, but requested) or to find out more information, visit www.barackobama.com or call 366-3256.

Comments

By Jerry

Jun 6, 2009 10:58 AM | Link to this

Can anyone lay his finger on a single syllable of the U. S. Constitution that authorizes the federal government to provide health care for anyone?

By BDDH

Jun 4, 2009 11:02 PM | Link to this

Further preparation for the Health Care meetings:

Here is an audio interview with the doctor who wrote The New Yorker [article] that I referenced earlier. It includes phone calls from people around the country.

(http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/06/costly-care-in-a-texas-town)

By BDDH

Jun 4, 2009 6:06 PM | Link to this

Thanks for the good ideas, Kelly. I shall look for similar gatherings in my area (west Texas), but so far, I have not found any. One of the reasons I leave comments online is because I see so much misinformation concerning single payer that I feel that correcting that misinformation online is one of the few things I can do.

I also carry business cards with two web sites [http:www.medicareforall.org] and [http://www.pnhp.org]. The first was designed by Bob9-9-09 ("health care for all by Sept 9, 2009") and the second is sponsored by Physicians for a National Health Program. It took me a loooong time to decide that single payer is what we need -- much reading and watching and discussing -- so my support has not been given lightly.

By BDDH

Jun 4, 2009 5:09 PM | Link to this

By Kelly

Jun 4, 2009 4:52 PM | Link to this

BDDH, You can host a meeting of you very own wherever you are. No previous experience or expertise in policy is required. At the meetings, attendees can submit in writing their ideas on policy if they'd like, but the forums are for collecting personal health care stories and planning National Day of Service events to promote healthy living in our community. These community forums will not be hosting anything resembling policy debate or policy Q&A.

If you want to host a health care reform event of your own, it can be private with just your immediate family and friends, co-workers, or neighbors, or it can be open to the public. OFA provides an easy to use Host Guide and a sample agenda. http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hckickoff

For those who can't participate in these forums, or don't want to be associated with anything with Barack Obama even in the privacy of your own home, you can also go to healthreform.gov and scroll to the bottom left of the home page and there is a link to submit your personal health care story and your ideas on health policy reform. Make your voice heard in a productive way; help reform America from the bottom - up.

In the process of providing a mechanism for collecting input and for promoting healthy living across our community, I worry about the lack a feasible method for including our elderly and poor communities who don't use, or have access to, the Internet. If any of you are willing to help collect and submit health care stories, OFA has an easy-to-use mechanism to aid your grassroot efforts.

I got a phone call this morning from a lady in Woodway who can't come to an event because she has to stay at home to care for her elderly father who can not be left alone. She was relieved to find out that she can submit her family's health care story from her home. Thank goodness she has Internet access.

With Hope and Goodwill, ~K

By BDDH

Jun 4, 2009 4:36 PM | Link to this

@Payurownway, HR 676 and SB 703 address your exact question. If physicians want government assistance, they will agree to go into primary care for a period of time (5 years?) in an under-served area. THEN if they choose to go into some kind of specialty, they can do it at their own expense.

When I listened to 4 doctors from the Mayo Clinic being interviewed on NPR (Diane Rhem Show), a beginning intern with a young family called in and asked how single payer would affect his pay. They said that physicians will get paid about 5 times what higher paid salaried people get. I consider from $75,000 to $100,000 a high salary with bonuses for improving their patients' health (inspiring weight loss, stopping smoking, daily exercise, etc.). That means that a doctor might earn from $375,000 to $500,000 plus bonuses.

Considering what we can live comfortably on, I would say that that kind of income is not too chinchy.

By payurownway

Jun 4, 2009 4:15 PM | Link to this

Why would anyone study the years and years it takes to become a Dr., to be reimbursed at the rate that medicaid and medicare are willing to pay. The more the government (that's you and me) subsidize something the higher and higher the cost go. Just look at what has happened to higher education in the last 20 years.

By BDDH

Jun 4, 2009 2:00 PM | Link to this

I am not where I can attend the meetings listed in the sidebar, but I hope they have huge crowds and lots of Q&A. Also, I recommend that anyone who is planning to attend READ the article in The New Yorker to go prepared to understand the discussion and to ask questions. Since Waco has so many medical complexes and a new one is being built, the citizens of the region need to be alert and stay informed.

I also hope the Waco Tribune makes good notes and details what is said at the meetings since I read the paper daily.

By BDDH

Jun 4, 2009 11:21 AM | Link to this

Good summary, David. One thing you did not mention that I found to be quite startling is that the McAllen doctors were SURPRISED at how much more health care in McAllen costs in comparison with other places. People who complain about big government sometimes are the very ones who create the conditions that cause government to have to step in to protect the little guy who can't protect himself.
(http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande)

By David

Jun 4, 2009 10:48 AM | Link to this

Thanks for posting that new yorker article BDDH. I was about to do the same thing. I saw that article last week and its a real jaw dropper.

In a nutshell:
McAllen, TX has the second highest health care costs per-capita in the nation but the population of McAllen's mortality rates are actually below average.

At first blush, folks start screaming about illegals making it cost so much but ElPaso, TX has a higher percentage of their population as illegal immigrants but the amount spent on health care per-capita in ElPaso is half of what it is in McAllen.

The article uncovers the reason why health care is so expensive in McAllen is all of the doctors in McAllen found creative legal ways to make sure they get a kick back for every imaginable referral/test/surgery so doctors in McAllen WAY over prescribe tests and surgeries as a matter of culture. This is also who their mortality rate is worse than average. Too many unnecessary surgeries and every surgery carries with it certain inherit risks.

Yes, illegal aliens do cost money but the article BDDH linked clearly lays out that illegal aliens are a small part of the problem. The article also points out that it's not a technology gap. The Mayo clinic, which has some of the best doctors and all of the latest high dollar gear, manages to serve patients for about 1/3 the cost of the McAllen average.

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