RMAC/Health Care Committee Meeting Report; October 2nd, 2009

Attendees:

John Kotson; IBM Retiree, RMAC Chairman
Ed Bettinardi; Johns Manville Retiree, Health Care Committee Chairman
Hazel Floyd; AUSWR Regional VP, Health Care Committee Member
Barbara Wilcox; AUSWR CO/WY Health Care Specialist, Committee Member
Joe Halpern; AUSWR Member, District AARP Representative
Helen Domaratz; IBM Retiree, RMAC Member
Pat Finley; AUSWR Member, RMAC Member
Darrell Coble; HP/AGELENT Retiree, RMAC Member

Jerry Pifer; Community Liaison Person for Congressman Ed Perlmutter
Stuart Feinhor; Health Care Specialist for Congressman Jared Polis
Dr Irene Aguilar; President of Health Care for All Colorado (HCAC)
Dr Earl Baumgartel; Northern Colorado Chapter of HCAC

National:

Presentation by Dr Aguilar (Key Points)

The US is working from the wrong model for health care. We are using a risk (insurance) model that is no longer relevant. Everyone needs health care, even if they are not sick. The single payer model is one that everyone pays up front for health care and all are covered. The Government recognized this need for poorer and old people with Medicare and Medicaid. The United Nations declared health care a basic human right but the US has not signed on. We do give health care as a right, but too late in a person’s illness.

We have lost cost consciousness with respect to health care. The drug companies claim they bear huge R&D costs, but more than half of the money comes from the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Congress now talks about providing “basic health care” but can’t seem to define what that is. Dr Aguilar believes basic care should include dental and mental care.

The Federal Government regulates the employment-based health care market, while the States regulate individual and small business markets. This means that insurers are exempt from anti-trust laws, leading to near monopolies. There is no competition and no transparency. A single payer heath care system could alleviate this.

There has been a move towards retail clinics and doctors owning specialty hospitals and ambulatory centers. We need to preserve good hospitals as safety nets, even though there may be reasons for ambulatory centers. Funding hospitals rationally means that everyone doesn’t get everything they want.

Dr Aguilar is not a strong proponent of H.R. 676. The bill will be debated in Congress but will be voted down. There will be a CBO analysis of H.R. 676 and the cost will be high but the CBO looks only at the cost to the Federal Government, it does not look at savings for the American people.

She believes there must be cost shifting in health care. Those that can afford to pay more should pay more. An example is the private/public school system. Those that can afford it send their kids to private schools but still pay taxes to support the public school system.

She doesn’t believe there will be rationing of health for many years because there is so much waste in the system. Would ration care by splitting the costs 50/50 with patients that want non-basic care.

Dr Aguilar believes the only way to get single payer is by starting at the state level or regional level. She wants the Kucinich amendment to H.R. 3200 that allows states to set up a single payer system. Under the amendment states could more easily get needed waivers from ERISA, Medicare and Medicaid. The Government would not run the system, non-profit entities would, e.g. Denver Health, Kaiser. To pay for it, she envisions taxes that are based on income.

She is working with state senator Joyce Foster and state house representative John Kefalas to get something passed. Governor Ritter opposed a bill submitted by John Kefalas last year and it failed by one vote. Work now is on a resolution that does not require the Governor’s signature. The resolution would design a plan and then have the people vote on it.

It was pointed out to Dr Aguilar that Colorado Congressmen Jared Polis and Ed Perlmutter are both members of the 13 member House Rules Committee that will vote on the Kucinich amendment and their staff persons were sitting on both sides of her at the meeting.

Update on Health Care Reform Progress; Jerry Pifer and Stuart Feinhor

Jerry will E-mail us the latest summary documents on H.R. 3200 (received Friday afternoon) which contain all of the amendments. She would like RMAC members to review the documents and E-mail her our 3 top priorities for change and why. She needs our inputs within a week. The Washington people are already working on the public option and pre-existing conditions. We can have 3 more. Pat Finley will pull together our inputs.

Medicare News: Some Medicare Advantage programs are pulling out in anticipation of reduced funding and won’t be available next year. Many others are raising their rates. Some durable medical equipment providers have not complied with new Medicare rules requiring surety bonds and accreditation and will be dropped from the program in 2010. Medicare will post a new list of approved providers on the web site.

Stuart Feinhor stated that Congressman Polis was a signatory to a freshman congressperson letter to Nancy Pelosi listing things they want in the final House bill. He will E-mail the letter to Helen Domaratz for distribution. Congressman Polis had many participatory events during the recent congressional recess. Everyone on Medicare seemed to like it although Medicare was not a top priority for H.R. 3200. A problem identified was the marketing of prescription drugs.

Review of Kaiser Family Comparisons (September 18th Revision) of Competing Health Care Bills

Ed Bettinardi stated that here was already a new revision out, therefore it was decided to hold off on the review until things settled down. Ed believes there will be a floor debate on the public option in the senate. Stuart Feinhor thinks the House Bill will contain the public option. Barbara Wilcox will retain the work done on the Kaiser document as a starting point for the next review.

Colorado AARP Status

Joe Halpern stated that AARP is spending most of it’s time defending itself from misrepresentations of health care positions. Attacks keep coming, mostly from an organization called “Redstate”. While they keep claiming how many people have cancelled their AARP memberships, many times that number of new members have joined over the same time period. Joe has submitted our white paper on the need for Medicare catastrophic coverage and still believes it will be in AARP’s 2009 platform.

Colorado/Wyoming

Katy Barr (Senator Enzi’s HELP committee staffer)—Hazel Floyd has not received any feedback on our request to include Medicare catastrophic coverage in the Senate HELP bill. Katy seemed supportive if it was made optional. Hazel has been asked to contact her to determine if she has done anything.

Dianna DeGette—Andrea Autobee from DeGette’s Denver office was again invited to our meeting, but did not attend. Hazel will keep trying.

Mike Coffman—Ed Bettinardi gets regular correspondence from his office. All are negative with respect to health care reform. They all state “Coffman Opposes”.
Ed will continue to follow.

Mark Udall—Hazel invited his Denver staff person Carolyn Boller to the meeting but she did not respond. Hazel will contact the Washington health care staffer to determine if they have done anything on Medicare catastrophic coverage. Joe Halpern may have a meeting with Udall through the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) and will try to corner him.

Michael Bennet—Betty Sweeney planned to attend our meeting but had a last minute conflict. Hazel Floyd will try to get her to our next meeting.

Other—the next RMAC/Health Care Committee meeting will be held on November 6th. All persons are urged to attend and invite guests. This was our largest meeting ever and I wish to thank all that took the time to participate.

John Kotson; RMAC Chairman