From Reform to Reality - Building Better Systems of Care in California

By Diane Vanette -Social Justice Chair Temple Emanuel

Last week I attended the Insure the Uninsured Project (ITUP) conference in Sacramento. From Reform to Reality – Building better systems of care in California

            There were over 500 participants from all over the State representing State Government, Policy groups, Health and Human Service agencies, Business, County Health Departments, and the Federal Government. I was there on behalf of Temple Emanuel and One LA representing the patient – the people. The event opened with a discussion of what providing health care for the citizens of California should look like in 10 to 20 years. There are many very bright people thinking about how to make California an example of success for the rest of the nation and, more importantly, thinking about how to provide a health system that works for the patient – the people. The exchange is being established and lots of work needs to be done to make this influential purchase community affordable and attractive to large numbers of people.

            Jon Kingsdale, Executive Director, Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority has the experience of setting up the Massachusetts version of the exchange. He spoke about what worked and what didn’t. One challenge is to get the most resistant participants to enroll. Those will be the young and the healthy. The exchange is also the face of Health Reform and must include the middle class and small business. The experience must be a positive one.  He stated the #1 reason Massachusetts has been successful is because they had a community based organizing group leading the way! One LA is that organization here in Los Angeles. In Massachusetts they had Greater Boston Interfaith Organization - a sister organization to One LA. It was exciting to have him recognize the importance of our work and call it a must have for Reform to succeed.

            I heard about two very different safety net systems - one from San Francisco and one from Alameda County. Each county official had different solutions to providing quality affordable care to the uninsured and county populations. The San Francisco plan has a common eligibility and enrollment system and identification card system. They have seen the quality of care increase and the numbers of participants increase. Safety Net Systems must be providers of choice within Medi-Cal. The ones with private and public partnerships seem to work. It was exciting to hear from a person in San Francisco who has worked with Dr. Mitchell Katz who is our new LA County Health Director.

            I also was present for a small breakout session on Small and Medium size business and the challenges facing them with health care reform. We will be meeting personally with Jon Arensmeyer, CEO, Small Busines Majority and David Chase of the Small Business Majority as we work toward our business summit to be held in the next six months.

            The good news is that many bright people have worked hard to see that Health Care Reform comes to California. There is much to be done and we are learning and talking about what is important to us as we work to make Health Care accessible to everyone. We need the continued support of our members here at Temple Emanuel, so keep the conversation going right here on our blog!

A Resounding "YES" we will work with ONE LA - From Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, LA County Dir. of Health Services Mitchell Katz and Assemblyman Mike Feuer

Today, over 400 leaders from One LA gathered at Temple Emanuel, Beverly Hills to present a community agenda for health care reform to State Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, Assemblyman Mike Feuer, and L.A. County Director of Health Services Dr. Mitchell Katz. 

Father Rosendo of Urrabazo from Our Lady Queen of Angels – La Placita, and Diane Vanette of Temple Emanuel, opened the proceedings repeating the call to action for health care reform. When the ONE LA member communities were asked to stand up and make themselves known, there was a visible reaction from our guests as they realized the people in the room represented ALL the diverse communities of Los Angeles and that they were standing together with one voice. A truly powerful voice.

Guests and audience alike sat riveted when Jane Hirsch of Immanuel Presbyterian spoke about the need for creating a stronger public system in LA County. Carolina Garcia and Maria Garcia both spoke on behalf of their families relating the utter confusion and devastation created by the totally inadequate health care system. This afternoon ONE LA spoke about the plight of not only the homeless, but the working poor, the increased demands on the clinics at a time when they have lost physicians because of budget cutbacks and about the 1 in 5 people aged 18-64 who are not insured; most finding co-payments unaffordable and medication prohibitively expensive.

ONE LA spoke for small business represented by Rabbi Susan Leider from Temple Beth Am, Exec. Dir. Ellis Kirschenbaum from Temple Emanuel, Sandra Babcock CEO of Dubnoff Center for Child Development and Samuel Chu from 1010 Development Corporation. All spoke up about the dire need for comprehensive affordable health care for their employees, emphasizing how these organizations are all non-profits and rely on donations and funding to exist. Affordable and comprehensive health care is a huge concern for them.  

Last but not least skyrocketing rates and arbitrary and unilateral denials of claims were discussed by Dr. Mark Weiss of Temple Emanuel – himself a provider, and Fran Grossman of Temple Beth Am who ended up with a bill for tens of thousands of dollars when her claim was denied. All efforts at appealing this horrendous bill fell on deaf ears.

After each discussion the speakers asked Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, Director of Health services for LA County Dr. Mitchell Katz, and Assemblyman Mike Feuer if they were committed to working with ONE LA to create a better health care system and they all responded with a resounding YES. All three committed to sending staff members to attend work groups and would personally attend future small business summits in an effort to create a system that would work for all. Dr. Katz was extremely impressed with the gathering & said that he was a primary care physician and would be honored to work with the local communities to teach individuals how the system works.

Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and Assemblyman Mike Feuer expressed their unequivocal commitment to support the work of ONE LA however requested our support in return. Assemblyman Mike Feuer also spoke about introducing legislation to halt unreasonable increases and asked for signatures for AB 52. He emphasized that the time for true and lasting reform is NOW. We absolutely agree!

Finally Rabbi Neil Scheindlin from Temple Emanuel talked about the next steps on this road to reform, and closing remarks were made by Rabbi Geller from Temple Emanuel. 

This day was not only a tremendously successful event, we made a huge impact on our guests who were clearly moved by the united front exhibited by the members of ONE LA.

Keep your eyes on this blog as we will be posting further developments for this action and the road ahead. We need your support! Pictures will  be updated soon!

IS HEALTH CARE A JEWISH ISSUE? TEMPLE EMANUEL AND ONE LA INITIATE PUBLIC ACTION FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM!

http://onela-iaf.org/

On Sunday January 30^th 2011 at Temple Emanuel, our community will have the opportunity to present their health care questions and concerns to CA Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, Assemblyman Mike Feuer, and LA County Supervisor Zev  Yaroslavsky in a Public Action with our partner One LA and member organizations around the greater Los Angeles area.  We will gather and stand together for change.  

This action began with a conversation between Rabbi Laura Geller and several members of Temple Emanuel’s social justice committee which led to further grass roots dialogues where strategies and priorities were established over recent months. This public action represents the beginning of a committed path to change in health care in the State of California.

Is health care a Jewish issue? Well of course it is! In this Shabbat’s Torah portion Mishpatim, we read of the foundation of the principles that define individual, communal, and judicial responsibility for the healing of the injured and ill.

What do we do when someone becomes sick – are we allowed, indeed, are we obligated to save and preserve life whenever possible?  Looking for relevant Jewish sources on this topic, Rabbi Stephanie Kolin of Just Synagogues graciously provided revealing material…… [See the link below at the end of this blog for the full text of these quotes] “The Torah gave permission to the doctor to heal, and it is even a commandment. Even more so, it is the commandment of saving a life. One who prevents himself from doing so is considered to have shed blood.”

Compelling questions for discussion flow from this text such as “How often does health insurance (or lack thereof) interfere with a doctor's ability to uphold the commandment of pikuach nefesh (saving a life)?” You and I have heard horror stories in the news of just such cases – and even in our own community we know of incidents where treatment was refused and friends and/or loved ones were lost.

Here is another quote from the same text: - “One who has medications, and another person is sick and needs them, it is forbidden to raise their prices beyond what is appropriate.” Again this is an issue close to the hearts of the members of our own community and you will hear their stories on Sunday.

Who determines "appropriate" prices for medications in this country? We will be posing this very question to Dave Jones and Mike Feuer – will they be able to regulate the rates of health insurance…??

Rabbi Elliot Dorff, a pre-eminent voice and authority on Jewish medical ethics wrote: “The fact that more than 40 million Americans have no health insurance is, from a Jewish point of view, an intolerable dereliction of society's moral duty. The Torah, the Prophets, and the Rabbis of our tradition all loudly proclaim that God commands us to take care of the poor, the starving and the sick. Given the current costs of health care, almost all of us fall into that category. On both moral and religious grounds then, we simply cannot let the present condition continue; we are duty-bound to find a way for all American citizens to be able to afford health care, for all American citizens.”

What are your thoughts…Do you believe Jews have a moral responsibility to speak out on behalf of individuals who deserve health coverage but are unable to acquire it? Or are we only obligated to care for other Jews? This coming Sunday, when we confront and discuss this and other vital health care related issues with our Public Action partners; we will be a unified voice for ALL communities in Los Angeles and California.

NATIONAL NEWS.

Last night was the State of the Union address and the White House is committed to answering your questions. The 2,000+ page Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 is a much debated issue. You may address President Obama or a White House staff member in this regard via live online events they have provided for your questions in the coming days. See the link directly below.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2011

We would love to hear your comments about how this new law affects you and/or your family? Are you for or against and why?

Post your stories and/or comments about this very important issue before Sunday and we will continue the conversation after the event. Watch this blog for updates and important information!   

The link below is to the wonderful resources discussed above.

http://www.on1foot.org/sourcesheet/jewish-argument-universal-health-care

We would love for you to join us this coming Sunday afternoon at Temple Emanuel, 8844 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, 90211 from 3 pm to 5 pm. Please let Diane Vanette know whether you will attend BY E-MAILING HER at diane.vanette@mac.com.


[We know this topic is compelling and emotional for many people.  For the purposes of civil conversation, please make sure your comments are written from your own perspective, and refrain from  making generalizations about others, or criticizing other commentators.  It is important that our conversation be kind and respectful, as will be expected at the public action on Sunday.]