Join the #NunsOnTheBus Tax Justice Truth Tour!
Leave a reply
Category Archives: Healthcare
Thousands of Medicaid Recipients in Arkansas Lose Access to Care
Thousands of Medicaid Recipients in Arkansas Lose Access to Care
Siena Ruggeri
October 2, 2018
In September 2018, the state of Arkansas revoked coverage for more than 4,300 Medicaid users. The state recently implemented a stringent work requirement on Medicaid recipients under the Arkansas Works program, stipulating that they must perform 80 hours of work, service, job training, or education a month. The state unceremoniously dropped recipients who did not properly log their hours into an online portal for three months. These dropped Medicaid users have no possibility of reapplying for the entirety of 2018.
This news came as a shock to the many low-income Arkansans who previously qualified for Medicaid. Due to the low profile implementation of the program, many were not aware of the new requirements. Some will not even realize they have lost their healthcare coverage until they go to the doctor or try to fill a prescription.
This is not an isolated phenomenon. Across the country, the Trump administration and its allies are encouraging burdensome work requirements for programs like Medicaid and SNAP (the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program). Indiana, New Hampshire, and Kentucky already received federal approval to implement their own Medicaid work requirements, while at least nine other states are considering them.
Even if Medicaid recipients in Arkansas are aware of the recent changes, they might not be able to access the Arkansas Works website to log their hours. According to the Federal Elections Commission, about a fourth of Arkansas’s population lives in areas without Internet service. The online portal has also been fraught with problems, preventing many from logging their work hours. Curiously, the website is down for 10 hours every night for maintenance, leaving it out of commission for 70 hours a week. These barriers make compliance difficult for a population already stretched thin.
It’s not as if Medicaid recipients aren’t working. At best, only 15% of enrollees not exempt from existing work requirements are not employed (Urban Institute); the vast majority are already working. The reason they are utilizing Medicaid is not due a lack of work—it is due to the deep poverty they are experiencing. Recipients do not have access to quality jobs that pay a living wage and provide health benefits.
Let’s not be mistaken—programs like Medicaid already have strict work requirements. These additional work requirements are an attempt to burden vulnerable populations with administrative barriers to affordable, quality healthcare. By dropping more than four thousand people from Medicaid coverage, the state of Arkansas stands to save 30 million a year. States like Arkansas that choose to implement these cumbersome some work requirements are choosing savings over care for their people.
Burdensome work requirements don’t address the realities of the low-income populations Medicaid serves. Work requirements don’t create stable jobs that pay a living wage, nor do they do anything to alleviate the racial income gap. Black Arkansans are twice as likely to live below poverty level than their white counterparts. These work requirements are complex in nature—they are designed to quietly dismantle social safety nets while stigmatizing low-income people as the problem. If Arkansas is serious about getting its residents off Medicaid, it needs to address economic inequality and reinvest in the working class.
The data from Arkansas gives us a look at the true human cost of burdensome work requirements. As other states roll out similar programs, thousands of people will unknowingly lose their coverage. There is no human benefit to burdensome work requirements. They only serve to harm people who utilize programs like Medicaid and SNAP to survive. NETWORK opposes implementing work requirements on our most effective human needs programs, and urges lawmakers to craft these programs to uphold human dignity, not diminish it.
Progress from Congress on Appropriations
Progress from Congress on Appropriations
Tralonne Shorter
September 12, 2018
This summer, Congress made extraordinary progress toward completing the requisite 12 spending measures for upcoming fiscal year (FY) 2019. To date, the Senate has passed nine spending bills, while the House has passed six. Lawmakers have until September 30 to finalize spending bills or extend funding at current levels through a continuing resolution (CR). Efforts are underway to bundle nine* out of 12 spending measures into three packages by September 30 and put the remaining three** bills into a CR, averting a government shutdown.
One reason for the Senate’s remarkable pace on appropriations is President Trump’s vow to not sign another omnibus spending bill. To achieve this progress, the Senate uncharacteristically spent part of August in session. Another reason is a bipartisan agreement between Appropriations committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Vice Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) not to pack spending bills with controversial provisions that would weaken bipartisan support.
NETWORK continues to lead lobby efforts supporting our Mend the Gap priorities. These include: humane border enforcement that promotes family unity and funding increases for affordable housing, workforce development, job training, child welfare and health care. In addition, NETWORK will continue to oppose efforts to defund the Affordable Care Act.
Immigration
Unsurprisingly, the Trump Administration’s “Zero Tolerance” immigration policy dominated the appropriations debate and faced strong opposition across party lines in both chambers. NETWORK joined pro-immigration advocates in garnering support for more than 12 amendments to the Homeland Security bill that adds report language that clamps down on family separation with better oversight and accountability standards for ICE detention centers. Additionally, we successfully lobbied for more funding to support alternatives to detention, family case management services, and mental health screening of unaccompanied minor children crossing the Southern border. However, a major disappointment by House Appropriators includes the reversal of the Flores Settlement, a 1997 agreement drafted by the ACLU which set a 20-day limit for family detention and governs the conditions of detention for children, including that facilities be safe, sanitary, and age appropriate. If enacted this would allow immigrant families to be indefinitely detained in facilities with harsh conditions not supported by Flores. Thankfully, the Senate approved LHHSED Appropriations bill leaves the Flores settlement agreement intact and the House language is not likely to be part of the final bill.
As for immigration enforcement spending contained in the Homeland Security Appropriations bill, the House Appropriations Committee approved $7 billion more than the Senate for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and the Southwest Border Wall. Other areas of concern include, a 10 percent increase in detention beds, as well as funding to hire almost 800 more border and customs agents/officers.
NETWORK will continue to push back on efforts to separate families or that would undermine humane border enforcement as negotiations gain momentum post the mid-term elections.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
The current Farm Bill is set to expire on September 30, unless Congress passes the next Farm Bill before then or extends the current reauthorization. Regardless of when Congress finalizes the next Farm Bill, funding for SNAP will not lapse as the government is statutorily required to continue funding the program subject to participation demands. Since 2015, SNAP enrollment has declined by more than 4.7 million people resulting in a $73 billion automatic appropriation for FY 2019. This is $794 million less than FY 2018 and a 10 percent reduction since FY 2015.
Census
House appropriators gave a big boost to the Census Bureau in the FY 2019 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations (CJS) bill, approving nearly $1 billion more for the agency than the Senate. However, it is unclear how much of the $4.8 billion for the agency will be allocated for the 2020 Decennial. Conversely, the Senate appropriators (under new leadership) appears to have taken a more conservative approach and adopted the President’s FY 2019 budget request to fund the 2020 Decennial at $3.015 billion. This is drastically different from NETWORK’s request of $3.928 billion minimum baseline.
Besides census activities, the CJS bill also funds immigration related law enforcement and adjudication efforts within the Department of Justice. Regrettably, the House Committee bill, fails to fully protect immigrant families and includes increased funding for immigrant-related law enforcement efforts. Congress is not expected to finalize the CJS bill until sometime after the mid-term elections. NETWORK will continue to call on our supporters to push for the higher number for the 2020 Census contained in the House bill.
Housing
Funding for housing programs fared better in the Senate. The Senate approved a $12 billion increase above the President’s FY 2019 budget request−and is $1 billion above the House bill. Housing programs help nearly 5 million vulnerable families and individuals. This includes: $22.8 billion for tenant-based Section 8 vouchers; $7.5 billion for public housing; $11.7 billion for project-based Section 8; $678 million for Housing for the Elderly; and $154 million for Housing for Persons with Disabilities. Both committee bills reject the Administration’s rent reform proposal, and reinstate funding for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships programs, which were eliminated in the President’s FY 2019 budget request. However, the House reduces spending for the HOME program by 12 percent.
NETWORK will continue to advocate for increased funding for affordable housing programs.
Children and Human Needs
The LHHSEd Appropriations bill funds popular safety net programs, like Medicare and Medicaid operations, home energy assistance, Head Start and the Child Care Development Block Grant. It is the 2nd largest spending bill, after defense and comprises about 63 percent of total discretionary spending. The House and Senate bills are slightly different—overall the Senate bill is better because it has a higher spending allocation and contains no poison pill riders unlike the House.
Unfortunately, the Affordable Care Act continues to be attacked by Republican lawmakers. Both the House and Senate bills reduce access to affordable health care by cutting funding for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) operating budget by nearly half a billion dollars. According to the House Committee report, Democrats view defunding CMS as “a misguided attempt to sabotage the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance marketplace.” If enacted this cut would significantly impact Medicare as it subject to mandatory 2 percent sequestration cut pursuant to the Balance Control Act of 2011 (P.L. 112-25).
NETWORK will continue to call on our supporters to push back against efforts to defund the Affordable Care Act.
* Agriculture; Defense; Energy and Water; Financial Services; Interior; Labor-Health and Human Services-Education; Legislative Branch; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.
**Commerce, Justice, Science; Foreign Operations; and Homeland Security.
Attempts to Sabotage the ACA Continue
Attempts to Sabotage the ACA Continue
Kaitlin Brown
July 27, 2018
This month has been particularly rough for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In two acts of sabotage, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced policy decisions that will undermine access to health care for millions of people. (You can see our coverage of previous ACA sabotage from the Trump administration this year here).
First, the administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent out a notice that funding for the navigator program would be cut to $10 million for the 2018-2019 enrollment period. Navigators work on the ground to help people navigate the online Insurance Marketplace and choose a plan that is right for them. Most navigators work for non-profit companies, and are present in congregations, public libraries, and other spaces to meet the needs of their community. Navigators also provide internet access to low-income and elderly people who might not have access to a computer find affordable health insurance. In 2016, the program was funded at $62 million, and only $36 million last year.
CMS also announced that it would be ending the risk adjustment program for insurance companies on the marketplace after a narrow ruling in New Mexico. The risk adjustment program is one of the main ways people with pre-existing and complex medical conditions can gain access to healthcare. The program uses premium money from healthy people in the individual market to pay for sicker people. It doesn’t cost anything, and is one of the main ways insurance works. Without this, however, costs could skyrocket for people with pre-existing conditions. This comes as rates and markets are being set for 2019, and without the ability to spread around risk between healthy and sick patients, premium rates could increase dramatically.
However, this decision was based on one case in New Mexico, where the judge ruled that the program in the state could not continue. Previous to this, a judge in Massachusetts had found the rule legal. However, CMS decided that the New Mexico ruling applied to all twenty-three states that have their own individual marketplace programs. Additionally, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services could have done a few things, including starting the appeals process or asking if the court meant for the ruling to apply to markets outside of New Mexico, that they chose not to do.
The reduction in funding for the popular navigator program, combined with the ending of the risk adjustment program, are two more acts of sabotage against the Affordable Care Act. We are seeing time and again that what the administration cannot do through the legislative process, they are doing through the administrative one.
People of Faith Working for Access to Affordable Medicine
People of Faith Working for Access to Affordable Medicine
Fran Quigley
July 5, 2018
Last June, 26 year-old Alec Smith of Minnesota died because he could not afford to treat his Type 1 diabetes with insulin that has risen in price over 1,000% since the late 1990s. One out of every five Americans does not fill a prescription each year because they can’t afford it—and risk strokes, heart attacks and unrelenting pain as a result.
Tobeka Daki of South Africa, the mother of two sons, died in 2016 because she could not afford a monopoly-protected cancer medicine priced at 193 times its manufacturing cost. The United Nations estimates that 10 million people each year die because they cannot afford the medicine to treat them.
The tragic stories of Alec Smith and Tobeka Daki could be repeated many times over in every community, and they could be told about vaccines, mental health medicines, asthma medication and nearly every other treatment. Many of us heard about the Epi-Pen 450% price increases or “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli’s 5,000% overnight spike in the price of the HIV medicine Daraprim. But these high-profile controversies are only the most visible symptoms of a deeply entrenched problem.
In stark contrast to Jesus bringing healing to the poorest of the poor, today’s lifesaving treatments have increasingly become a luxury that only the world’s wealthy can afford. Protected from market competition by monopoly patents, medicines are routinely priced at levels hundreds of times their manufacturing costs. The companies that sell the medicines make record-breaking profits yet still routinely raise prices by double-digit margins each year.
These companies tout their research investments, but they actually spend far more on advertising, executive salaries as high as $78 million per year, stock buybacks that enrich the top shareholders, and political campaign donations. In the meantime, our sisters and brothers are splitting their pills, maxing out credit cards just to go to the pharmacy, or simply going without their medication.
For people of faith, this status quo is unacceptable. All major religious and moral traditions embrace a clear responsibility to care for those who are poor and the sick. And that obligation goes beyond direct care to use our voices to ensure that our systems and laws do not lock out those in desperate need of medicines.
So it is not surprising that a significant majority of Americans are demanding drug pricing reform. And we have an opportunity to make it happen. Bipartisan proposals to change the system are pending in dozens of states and Congress.
Those proposals include allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices the same way other countries do now, and speeding the process for drugs to be available at far cheaper generic prices. The corporations setting record prices can do so only because our government has chosen to grant them private monopolies on selling taxpayer-funded developed medicines, even though nonprofit models for research and development have proven to be effective.
Advocates for affordable medicines have won before. In the HIV/AIDS treatment campaign of the turn of the century, much of the faith community joined a global moral movement that successfully overcame monopolies and reduced antiretroviral medicine prices by more than 90%, saving millions of lives in the process.
The faith community can play this role again. We start with the foundation, set out in both our sacred texts and global human rights treaties, that people who are suffering should be able to access the medicines they need. The fact that Alec Smith, Tobeka Daki and millions of others cannot access the medicine they need to live is a moral failing.
But we can fix this, and people of faith can help lead the way.
Fran Quigley is a NETWORK advocate based in Indiana and the coordinator of People of Faith for Access to Medicines (PFAM).
To the NETWORK Community:
Do you have a personal story about drug prices that you’d like to share with NETWORK as we advocate for affordable medicine? Submit your story below. Thank you!
Mind the Gap! Petition delivery to the White House
Mind the Gap! Petition delivery to the White House
By Jean Sammon
July 28, 2011
NETWORK staff delivered the petition for a White House summit on the wealth gap to the White House on Monday July 25. We met with Jon Carson, Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, who actually was very engaging! We presented him with the petition, the list of 6170 names of people who signed the electronic version, including their comments, and the paper petitions signed by another 200 people. We had signatures from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, Palau, and the Marshall Islands.
In our conversation with Mr. Carson, we were please to see the he understands the importance of this issue. We talked about how the wealth gap relates to the current debate on the debt crisis, and he was very interested in what we were hearing from people around the country. He stressed how important it is for constituents to make personal contact with their elected representatives. Even if elected officials won’t always admit it in public, constituents do have an influence on their behavior.
One of the nice surprises was that Lauren Dunn joined us in the meeting. Lauren was a NETWORK associate in 2006, and is now working with the White House Domestic Policy Council. She told us that the people in her department are working to increase opportunity for people at the low end of the wealth gap.
We will follow up with Jon Carson and Lauren and others at th
e White House on the idea of a summit on the wealth gap. We still intend to meet our goal of 10,000 signatures on the petition, and we will deliver all of them in future meetings, as we continue to educate elected officials as well as the public on the causes and consequences of the wealth gap in our country, and advocate for responses.
If you haven’t signed the petition, please do so athttps://www.networklobby.org/petition-white-house-summit. If you have already signed, please forward the link to others and ask them to sign.
Blog: Catholic Sisters’ Letter in Support of Healthcare Reform Bill
Catholic Sisters’ Letter in Support of Healthcare Reform Bill
Mar 17, 2010
On March 17, 2010, prior to the historic vote on healthcare reform, NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, released the text of a letter to Congress supporting healthcare legislation from organizations and communities representing tens of thousands of Catholic Sisters. This letter (text below), which was delivered to each Member of Congress, came just days after a statement in support of passing healthcare reform by Sister Carol Keehan, President and CEO of the Catholic Health Association. NETWORK strongly supported both statements and worked on all levels to promote passage of the healthcare bill that extended healthcare coverage to millions more people while eliminating unjust practices in the healthcare field.
This is the text of the letter that was sent to all Members of Congress:
Dear Members of Congress:
We write to urge you to cast a life-affirming “yes” vote when the Senate health care bill (H.R. 3590) comes to the floor of the House for a vote as early as this week. We join the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA), which represents 1,200 Catholic sponsors, systems, facilities and related organizations, in saying: the time is now for health reform AND the Senate bill is a good way forward.
As the heads of major Catholic women’s religious order in the United States, we represent 59,000* Catholic Sisters in the United States who respond to needs of people in many ways. Among our other ministries we are responsible for running many of our nation’s hospital systems as well as free clinics throughout the country.
We have witnessed firsthand the impact of our national health care crisis, particularly its impact on women, children and people who are poor. We see the toll on families who have delayed seeking care due to a lack of health insurance coverage or lack of funds with which to pay high deductibles and co-pays. We have counseled and prayed with men, women and children who have been denied health care coverage by insurance companies. We have witnessed early and avoidable deaths because of delayed medical treatment.
The health care bill that has been passed by the Senate and that will be voted on by the House will expand coverage to over 30 million uninsured Americans. While it is an imperfect measure, it is a crucial next step in realizing health care for all. It will invest in preventative care. It will bar insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. It will make crucial investments in community health centers that largely serve poor women and children. And despite false claims to the contrary, the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions. It will uphold longstanding conscience protections and it will make historic new investments – $250 million – in support of pregnant women. This is the REAL pro-life stance, and we as Catholics are all for it.
Congress must act. We are asking every member of our community to contact their congressional representatives this week. In this Lenten time, we have launched nationwide prayer vigils for health care reform. We are praying for those who currently lack health care. We are praying for the nearly 45,000 who will lose their lives this year if Congress fails to act. We are also praying for you and your fellow Members of Congress as you complete your work in the coming days. For us, this health care reform is a faith mandate for life and dignity of all of our people.
We urge you to vote “yes” for life by voting yes for health care reform in H.R. 3590.
Sincerely,
Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA
LCWR President
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Joan Chittister, OSB
Co-Chair Global Peace Initiative of Women
Erie, PA
Leadership Team
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
Leadership Team
Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Sr. Mary Persico, IHM
President
Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Scranton, PA
Sr. Susan Hadzima, IHM
Councilor for Missioning and Community Life
Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Scranton, PA
Mary Pelligrino, Marguerite Coyne, Rosanne Oberleitner, Carolyn Bodenshatz
Leadership team
Sisters of St. Joseph
Baden, PA
Sr. Helen McDonald, SHCJ
Province Leader
Society of the Holy Child Jesus
Philadelphia, PA
Vivien Linkhauer, SC
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, United States Province
Greensburg, PA
Leadership Team
Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
Sister Barbara Hagedorn, SC
Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
Mt. St. Joseph, Ohio
Marilyn Kerber, SNDdeN
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
Canonical Representative, Ohio Province
Sisters of St. Francis
Tiffin, Ohio
Leadership Team
Sisters of the Precious Blood
Dayton, OH
Nancy Conway CSJ
Congregation Leadership Team
The Congregation of St. Joseph
Joan Saalfeld, SNJM, Provincial
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
U.S.-Ontario Province
Jo’Ann De Quattro, SNJM
Sisters of the Holy Names
U.S.-Ontario Province Leadership Team
Josephine Gaugier, OP
Adrian Dominican Sisters
Holy Rosary Mission Chapter Prioress
Adrian, MI
Kathleen Nolan, OP
Adrian Dominican Sisters
Office of the General Council
Joan Mumaw, IHM – Vice President
On behalf of the Leadership Council
Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Monroe, MI
Corinne Weiss,
Servants of Jesus Leadership Team
Saginaw MI
Beatrice Haines, OLVM
President, Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters
Huntington, IN
Eileen C. Reid, RJM
Provincial Superior
Religious of Jesus and Mary
Washington DC
Sister Cecilia Dwyer, O.S.B.
Prioress
Benedictine Sisters of Virginia
Sr. Dorothy Maxwell, Councilor
Sisters of St. Dominic
Blauvelt, New York
Adrian Dover OP
Prioress
Dominican Sisters of Houston, Texas
Francine Schwarzenberger OP
Dominican Sisters of Peace
Denver, Colorado
Rose Mary Dowling, FSM
President
Franciscan Sisters of Mary
Margaret Byrne CSJP – Congregation Leader
Teresa Donohue CSJP – Assistant Congregation Leader
Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace
Sr. Carmelita Latiolais, S.E.C.
Sisters of the Eucharistic Covenant
Sheral Marshall, OSF
Provincial Councilor
Sisters of St Francis
The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes
Sister Joann Sambs, CSA
General Superior
The Leadership Team of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis
Sister Jane Blabolil, SSJ-TOSF
Sister Michelle Wronkowski, SSJ-TOSF
Sister Dorothy Pagosa, SSJ-TOSF
Sister Linda Szocik, SSJ-TOSF
Sr. Mary Genino (RSHM), Provincial
Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary
Western American Province.
Debra M. Sciano, SSND
Provincial Leader
Milwaukee Province, School Sisters of Notre Dame
Sister Liz Heese
School Sisters of St. Francis
US Province, Milwaukee, WI
Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA, President
Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
La Crosse, WI
Sharon Simon, OP
President
Racine Dominicans
Maryann A. McMahon, O.P.
Vice President
Dominican Sisters of Racine, WI
Agnes Johnson, OP
Vice President
Racine Dominicans
Pat Mulcahey, OP
Prioress of Sinsinawa Dominicans
Theresa Sandok, OSM
Servants of Mary (Servite Sisters)
Ladysmith, Wisconsin
Sister Maureen McCarthy
School Sisters of St. Francis
U.S. Provincial Team
Milwaukee, WI
Dolores Maguire
Sisters of the Holy Faith
Northern California LCWR Region XIV
Patricia Anne Cloherty, PBVM
Leadership Team, Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
Pam Chiesa, PBVM
President
Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
Gloria Inés Loya
Leadership Team
Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
Gloria Marie Jones, OP
Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
Congregational Prioress and Council
Mary Litell
Provincial Councilor
Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity St. Francis Province
Sr Claire Graham SSS
General Director
Sisters of Social Service
Encino CA
Sr. Gladys Guenther SHF
Sisters of the Holy Family
Congregational President
Fremont, CA
Sister Patricia Rayburn, OSF,
Provincial Minister, Sisters of St. Francis,
Redwood City, CA
Sisters of St. Louis, California Region
Marianites of Holy Cross
Sr. Suellen Tennyson, MSC
Congregational Leader
New Orleans, LA
Sister Clare of Assisi Pierre, SSF
Sisters of the Holy Family
New Orleans, LA
Congregation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Sister Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, O.Carm.
Sister Andree Bindewald, O.Carm.
Lacombe, Louisiana
Sr. Mary Elizabeth Schweiger, OSB
Subprioress
Mount St. Scholastica
Atchison, KS
Janice Cebula, OSF
President
Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, Iowa
Mary Rehmann, CHM
President
Congregation of the Humility of Mary
Davenport, IA
Sr. Joanne Buckman, OSU
Usruline Sisters of Cleveland
Jean Masterson, CSJ
Congregation of St. Joseph
Cincinnati, OH
*Correction: NETWORK led the effort to lift the voice of Catholic Sisters in the public debate about healthcare reform. Our letter stated: “As the heads of major Catholic women’s religious orders in the United States, we represent 59,000 Catholic Sisters in the United States who respond to needs of people in many ways.” The President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, who represents the leadership of more than 90% of the Catholic religious women’s congregations in the United States, was one of more than 50 of our signatories. She alone represents more than 53,000 Catholic Sisters. Leaders of individual congregations also signed on to the letter. We stand behind our statement as representing the views of the overwhelming majority of Catholic Sisters. The real numbers we should be focusing on are the more than 30 million Americans don’t have health insurance and the 45,000 people who die each year due to lack of coverage. Daily in every part of our country, Catholic Sisters experience the suffering of these Americans and their families. It is out of this experience of pain that we spoke of our Gospel values and the mandate for reform.
Blog: The Cleveland Clinic Model for Healthcare
Blog: The Cleveland Clinic Model for Healthcare
Jean Sammon
Jun 30, 2010
When I saw the notice about Delos M. Cosgrove, M.D., the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, speaking at the Center for American Progress in downtown Washington, DC, I figured I had to go for several reasons.
1. I grew up in Cleveland, and was familiar with the Clinic’s legendary status. When President Obama cited the Cleveland Clinic as a model for healthcare reform, I felt some hometown pride.
2. I have quite an interest in healthcare reform, both personally and as part of NETWORK’s work on the issue, and I want to know how we can make sure that everyone gets quality, affordable care in the future.
Here are some things I learned from Dr. Cosgrove:
- The doctors at the Clinic are salaried employees on a one-year contract, with no tenure, and an annual peer review. There are no financial incentives for doctors to do more, or less, procedures than necessary.
- Electronic medical records tie all the Clinic locations together, and they have a transportation system to move the patient to the right facility for the right care at the right time.
- Administrators of the Clinic are former doctors, whose philosoply is that it is better to keep people healthy than to treat them when they are sick. They actively promote wellness among their employees and in the community by offering weight-loss and smoking-cessation programs. They do not hire anyone who smokes, they’ve banned trans-fats and fryers from their food service, and eliminated pop (a.k.a. soda) and candy from vending machines.
- The Clinic is organized around patients’ problems, not doctors professions. That means there is no “department of surgery” where different types of surgeons may have nothing in common, but there is a heart institute, a neurology center, a urology center, and other centers where different types of doctors can collaborate on a patient’s specific problem.
It was heartening for me to hear that the Clinic administrators are getting lots of questions from other healthcare providers around the country about how they can replicate the Clinic’s success.
Blog: A “Roadmap” in the Wrong Direction on Healthcare
A “Roadmap” in the Wrong Direction on Healthcare
By David Golemboski
March 07, 2011
Republicans have offered far more political rhetoric than actual policy proposals over the past two years. They have appeared to spend more energy opposing President Obama than suggesting solutions to our country’s challenges. Since Republicans have taken control of the House, however, they have put forward more concrete ideas. Chief among them is the “Roadmap for America’s Future,” advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. The Roadmap is indeed a concrete proposal, though it is far from a good idea.
The Roadmap for America’s Future includes all kinds of problematic economic policy ideas, but the healthcare provisions are especially frightening. The Roadmap would shift the burden of healthcare costs onto the most vulnerable people and would force more people to fend for themselves on the private insurance market. Moreover, it does not include the important insurance industry reforms that are included in the new healthcare law nearly a year ago (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). The new law includes reforms designed to hold insurance companies accountable and work at lowering healthcare costs over the long-term. The Roadmap does not.
Here are some of the problems with the Roadmap in more detail:
- The Roadmap would move us away from employer-sponsored health coverage. All taxpayers would instead receive a federal tax credit ($2,300 for individuals, $5,700 for families) to purchase health insurance. Many employers would likely stop providing health benefits, meaning that people would be responsible for purchasing coverage on the private market. This would drive up premiums for older, less healthy individuals. Moreover, these tax credits would not increase as fast as healthcare costs, meaning that they would be worth less and less over time.
- The Roadmap would leave people with pre-existing conditions out to dry. The plan relies on “high-risk pools”: state-based collectives through which people can purchase insurance if they can’t purchase it on the private market. In the current employer-sponsored healthcare system, sick people and healthy people are “pooled” together to purchase insurance, which keeps premiums reasonable for all. In the high-risk pools, sick people would all be purchasing insurance together, which would mean higher premiums for those people.
- The Roadmap would end Medicare as we know it, transforming it into a voucher program. For those enrolling in 2021 or later, Medicare would provide a voucher for individuals to purchase their own insurance on the private market. Insurance companies would be free to charge elderly consumers as much as they like, and there would be no requirements about what benefits they must provide. Just like the tax credits above, these would not grow enough to keep pace with increasing healthcare costs, so elderly people would be stuck with a growing share of healthcare costs over time.
- Finally, the Roadmap would not do anything to significantly lower healthcare costs over the long-term. The growing cost of healthcare is perhaps the biggest threat to our national fiscal sustainability. The Roadmap does not address these rising costs, but merely shifts the costs to individuals.
Now, compare these with what the healthcare law is already doing for us:
- Expanding healthcare to millions who could not afford it previously.
- Implementing important reforms to hold insurance companies accountable, including prohibiting them from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
- Establishing mechanisms to control the growth of healthcare costs over the long-term.
These are the kind of solutions we need, not a misguided “Roadmap” that would lead us back to the days when healthcare was beyond the reach of too many people.
Blog: Rep. Ryan, Medicare and the Economy
Blog: Rep. Ryan, Medicare and the Economy
Marge Clark, BVM
May 17, 2011
Speaking in Chicago on Monday, May 16, Representative Paul D. Ryan touted his plan to privatize Medicare as the way to “grow the economy.”
Truly, when the measure of the economy is financial gains in private markets, then one can say the economy grows in this case by forcing both the federal government and seniors to pay twice as much to private insurers for the same (or less) medical care. So, yes, the private sector makes financial gains.
At what cost? What is the cost in quality of life and in financial stability for seniors?
According to the House-passed FY 2012 Budget, rather than have Medicare cover various parts of seniors’ healthcare costs, the plan would determine an amount of money that the federal government would pay to a private insurer selected by the Medicare recipient. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), seniors would need to pay twice as much as they currently do for their healthcare. Representative Ryan is not sharing all aspects of the plan with the public – but was required to share all with the CBO.
The Ryan budget plan would destroy Medicare as we know it. This is simply immoral and economically shortsighted.