It takes a special kind of nerd to get excited about a public forum in which community members have the opportunity to share their stories and demand changes in our current health care system. Well, I happened to be that nerd sitting in the Whitney Senior Center this evening listening to ordinary citizens discuss with their legislators what they would like to see happen with health care in the future. I taped most of the event but given constraints on uploading videos and in the interest of brevity I pared down the two hour session to video responses given by each of the legislators in attendance. In attendance were Senator Jon Marty, Senator Tarryl Clark, Representative Larry Haws, Representative Larry Hosch, and for a short time Representative Steve Gottwalt.
Senator Marty provided a handout entitled "Principles of Health Care Reform"
In order to keep Minnesotans healthy and provide the best quality of health care, our health care system must:
(1) Ensure all Minnesotans receive high quality health care, regardless of their income;
(2) Not restrict, delay, or deny care or reduce the quality of care to hold down costs, but instead reduce costs through prevention, efficiency, and reduction of bureaucracy;
(3) Cover all necessary care, including all coverage currently required by law, complete mental health services, chemical dependency treatment, prescription drugs, medical equipment and supplies, dental care, long term care, and home care services;
(4) Allow patients to choose their own providers;
(5) Be funded through premiums and other payments based on the person's ability to pay, so as not to deny full access to all Minnesotans;
(6) Focus on preventative care and early intervention to improve the health of all Minnesotans and reduce costs from untreated illnesses and diseases;
(7) Ensure and adequate number of qualified health care professionals and facilities to guarantee availability of, and timely access to quality care throughout the state;
(8) Continue Minnesota's leadership in medical education, training, research, and technology; and
(9) Provide adequate and timely payments to providers.
The format was well organized, well attended, and nicely formatted as audience members had ample opportunity to provide their stories to the panel of legislators and offer advice on the way forward. Obviously, there were some ideas I did not agree with (such as the woman who felt we should scrap the entire system and start over) but, for the most part, the legislators allowed each person to testify and offered what advice and input they could.
Stories ranged from the retired police officer whose current health care premiums are bankrupting him, the woman advocating for single payer health care ala Canada, folks concerned about Medicare, people concerned about health care for the mentally ill, veterans concerned with health care on their return home, immigrants dealing with amputations, cancer patients, and a whole host of others who bravely told their story.
Stories ranged from the retired police officer whose current health care premiums are bankrupting him, the woman advocating for single payer health care ala Canada, folks concerned about Medicare, people concerned about health care for the mentally ill, veterans concerned with health care on their return home, immigrants dealing with amputations, cancer patients, and a whole host of others who bravely told their story.
I have broken down responses by the legislator:
Jon Marty (Health Care)
Tarryl Clark (Health Care)
Larry Haws (Health Care)
Larry Hosch (Health Care)
Jon Marty Closing Statements
We need fixes in our health care system. Whether those fixes involve single payer or other minor fixes are certainly subject to debate. The primary fix I am currently an advocate of is a statewide pool for educators. It very nearly became a reality this past session but was unfortunately vetoed by our plurality Governor. However, with these legislators at the helm I am positive that those fixes can be accomplished.
