RMAC/Health Care Committee (HCC) Meeting Report June 26th 2009

Attendees

John Kotson—IBM Retiree; RMAC Chairman
Hazel Floyd—AUSWR Regional Vice President; HCC Member
Ed Bettinardi—Johns Manville Retiree; HCC Chairman
Barbara Wilcox—AUSWR Health Care Specialist; HCC Member
Joe Halperrn—AUSWR CO/WY President; NRLN BOD Member
Helen Domaratz—IBM Retiree; Alliance@IBM/CWA Representative

Guests

Jerry Pifer—Health Care Staff Person for US Congressman Ed Perlmutter
Betty Sweeney—Community Liaison Staff Person for US Senator Michael Bennet

National

Jerry Pifer’s Report;

1.   Colorado Congresswoman Dianna DeGette is key person on House Health Care Reform bill. She serves on one of the three committees that authored the bill. Her positions are Chief Deputy Whip in the House of Representatives and she is Vice Chair on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
2.   Colorado Congressman Ed Perlmutter serves on the House Rules Committee. He has the opportunity to fight for or against amendments to the proposed health care reform legislation.
3.   A summary of the House Tri-Committee draft is available at www.energycommerce.house.gov.
4.   Week of June 30th, Perlmutter is having a health care advisory board meeting; inviting a bunch of health care experts. On July 7th he is having a town hall meeting by phone.
5.   Jerry met with the Jeffco Dems on health care. The Health Care for All Colorado (HCAC) people were very disruptive at the meeting.
6.   John Kotson asked if Perlmutter will support Medicare catastrophic coverage. Jerry stated that Perlmutter is not in a position to introduce a bill.
7.   Helen Domaratz stated that Congressman Jared Polis has an advisory board on senior issues called SAGE. She regularly attends their meetings.
8.   Jerry offered to contact Congresswoman Betsy Markey’s office to get them to respond to our letter on Medicare catastrophic coverage.
9.   John Kotson mentioned that the Public Plan is ill defined thus far.

Betty Sweeney’s Report;

1.   Senator Bennet is becoming active on health care reform. He made a recent speech on the floor of the Senate. He stresses choice, access and affordability for any new health care legislation. On choice, persons should be able to keep their current insurance and doctor if they wish. Any new health care plan must be affordable to both the government and the patient.
2.   Betty stated that Bennet’s support for a public option isn’t on his website yet. Things change daily so it hard to keep up.
3.   Ed Bettinardi listened to the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the health care bill. The opposition seemed to be arguing about things not in the bill.
4.   Betty stated that Senator Baucus is warming up to a public plan due to public support for it. However, he likes medical co-ops more than a government run plan. Co-ops will not be state by state, more likely regional like the Medicare 9 regions. Senate Finance Committee is looking for cost savings. Medicare reforms are not in either the Senate Finance Committee bill or the HELP bill.
5.   Senator Bennet has introduced a bill for “Transitions of Care” in Medicare. When an older person leaves a hospital, they have a coach to go over everything that needs to happen at home. The objective is to reduce hospital re-admissions. A companion bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives. The University of Colorado has a pilot program with Centura to study this approach.
6.   Betty is hoping that wellness programs will be included in the final health care bill. Senator Bennet is on the Agriculture Committee and is pushing child nutrition. He is pushing presumptive eligibility; if your eligible for school lunch, you should be eligible for Medicaid or CHIP-Plus.
7.   On schedule, Betty expressed doubt if the health care bill will be done by year end. Thinks they will not recess for Christmas, will work right through.
8.   Ed Bettinardi offered an interesting idea, have government sponsored Medicare supplement insurance.
9.   The question was raised can schools be the center of community health care. In some areas of Adams County, school health care is for everyone, the whole family.

Colorado/Other

1. Joe Halpern has joined the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative (CCHI). It is a data oriented group that has good seminars on health care costs. Their analysis shows that people under 400% of poverty level cannot afford health insurance.
2. Joe Halpern is also the Legislative Liaison for AARP in Colorado District 1. AARP has established the following initiatives for health care reform:

a.   Guaranteeing access to affordable health care for Americans age 50 to 64.
b.   Closing the Medicare Part D coverage gap or doughnut hole.
c.   Approving generic versions of drugs to treat cancer and other serious diseases.
d.   Create a follow up care benefit to reduce costly hospital re-admissions.
e.   Increased federal funding for home and community-based services through Medicaid.
f.   Improving programs that help low income Medicare recipients afford the health care and prescription drugs they need.

3.   Ed Bettinardi reported that NRLN has backed away from supporting a public health care plan. Some members violently oppose any Government involvement in Health care.
4.   Hazel Floyd reported that Senator Mark Udall doesn’t have a Colorado resident health care person. She will try to set up a teleconference with his Washington to discuss Medicare improvements.
5.   Helen Domaratz reported on Congressman Jared Polis Sage council meetings. Polis is interested in senior issues. He no longer supports a single payer health care program; as a result attendance at the meetings has declined. Helen wil ask for feedback from Polis at the next meeting. John Rommelfanger will join the SAGE Council to back up Helen.

Future Activities

Due to the heavy involvement by Congressional Staffers, the scheduled RMAC/Health Care agenda was not addressed. This will be covered at the next meeting which is scheduled for August 7th.

John Kotson; RMAC Chairman

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