Last week Organizing for America volunteers across Colorado accomplished something incredible. In just one day, we motivated thousands of our neighbors to play an active role in the shaping of health insurance reform. In Denver, we started the day watching our east coast friends heat up “the thermometer” – a graphic on BarackObama.com that tracked our progress towards the goal of 100,000 calls to congress. You could feel the anticipation.
Regional Field Director Anand Singh got the day started by training health reformers on how to make the most out of our phone calls. Before long the office was bustling.
Out on the Western Slope, the Day of Action coincided with OFA Grand Junction’s weekly “Women 2 Women” phone bank. The women cheered and chanted "Get A Mop, Get A Mop!" along with live webcast to OFA volunteers referencing President Obama’s call to help clean up the health care system. At one point during the webcast, Neighborhood Team Leader Kathi Roy shouted:
We love you Mr. President, but you're cutting into our call time! We have over 700 women in Western Colorado to call, and we need to call through the entire list tonight, so please wrap this up!
Back on the Front Range, “Women 2 Women” had some competition from “Students 2 Students.” Nicole Shook and Emily McKenzie from East High School coordinated their own phone bank of high school volunteers. Nicole and Emily are committed to getting other students involved and their hard work paid off.
It was an inspiring day all across Colorado. We watched as that thermometer smashed our goal of 100,000 reaching more than 300,000! That work was possible because Coloradans like you decided that it was time for congress to deliver on health insurance reform. We want you to be a part of it too! Send a quick e-mail to OFAColorado@dnc.org to be put in contact with your local team.
Under a basic universal healthcare system (or public option), all Americans would be entitled to receive preventative and necessary healthcare by creating a program whereby recent graduates from all medical fields would be encouraged or required to serve 2 + years as "universal plan" providers (or "public option providers"). In other words, individuals choosing to enroll in a basic, public option plan would receive care primarily from younger, less experienced healthcare providers. Within these participating clinics/hospitals, there would be senior clinical supervisors overseeing and consulting with their younger associates. A monthly premium and/or copays could be determined as a percentage of annual income, with a cap.
KEEP SUPPLEMENTAL INSURANCE IN THE PRIVATE SECTORThose individuals who wished to receive more specialized and expanded care could purchase supplemental plans that would be privatized and outside of the government subsidized public option, just as we do today with employer or individual financed private insurance plans.This option is integral to ensuring that those who want their medical care to be more aggressive and intervention-based get that assurance.
For example, under the Universal Care plan (the public option), end of life care/prevention would have limitations so that elderlies' lives are not extended indefinately with various forms of life support. Many of us do not wish to have our lives extended in this artifical and costly way. However, for those who want a more aggressive approach to end of life care/extension, a supplemental policy could be purchased that would guarantee such care.Healthcare providers who opted into the universal system would be rewarded by student loan forgiveness programs and subject to contracted wages/salaries negotiated between healthcare providers and states/federal government. One way of making this more affordable to the government would be to have the government provide government-backed malpractice insurance that would have stricter caps on what and how much patients could sue for. Admittedly, this proposal does set up a two-tiered system, whereby public option recipients receive care from younger, less experienced practitioners. To me, this is the unavoidable way to provide lower cost healthcare to all, and it is superior to the current system where many go uninsured and without any healthcare whatsoever.Non-Profit Healthcare Co-opsThis idea is quite intriguing to many healthcare providers in Boulder County. I am interested in legislation that includes such clinics as an option to compete with private insurance plans, as long as the rules and fees for setting them up are not overly restrictive. These types of co-ops would require government assistance to help set-up in order for them to become a viable alternative to traditional employer-based healthcare. In my opinion, both the Public Option and Non-profit Co-ops should be included in healthcare reform legislation. It appears that Republicans are proposing this option in lieu of the Public Option because they know it will be much more difficult to establish on a large scale, in a way that would really compete with for-profit insurance companies in the same way that the Public Option would. That being said, if these co-ops are to be included in reform legislation, please ensure that these co-ops are designed to compete and succeed in the new system.
As an acupuncturist who has had the privilege of working in a community that is relatively integrative, my concern about the state of our healthcare crisis is somewhat unique. Healthcare is a basic human right, and all citizens should have access to healthcare, regardless of their ability to pay full market price. I believe that basic human needs such as water, energy, and healthcare should not be subject to profit-making or the unregulated domain of "Free Market Capitalism". I also believe that people who take responsibility for maintaining and enhancing their health should be given incentives, such as reduced premiums / copays or even better, including these healthy habits as a covered medical insurance benefit that is available to everyone.
NATURAL MEDICINE as FIRST RESORT
I work in a field (acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine) that has become most people's "last resort", when I believe our work is better suited as a "first resort": If we, as healthcare providers, must first pledge to do no harm, should we not proceed by offering the least invasive treatments first, before turning to the more risky options of surgery and drugs laden with potential side effects? If natural-based medicine and exercise therapies were covered insurance benefits, we would be able to reach many more people before they become so ill that they have no other options besides surgery and life-long drug therapies. Let me also clarify that in some cases, surgery and life-saving drugs are a godsend, and the most appropriate treatment for the patient. My patients are sometimes shocked to hear me say "I think you should go for the hip replacement", but I am committed to helping them choose medical solutions that work, and you can't "cure" bone-on-bone hip degeneration with needles and herbs. Some of the most enthusiastic proponents of hip replacements and other surgical procedures are themselves acupuncturists and providers of natural-based medicine.
In sum, I believe that the type of care covered by insurance is as important as the issue of universal coverage. I urge my fellow healthcare professionals and legislative advocates to adopt this issue alongside the very noble and worthy goal of universal healthcare.
