Wisconsin Healthcare United's Patrick Flaherty and volunteer Bill Martin register voters yesterday at Milwaukee's Juneteenth celebration, one of the largest in the country.

To read more about yesterday's celebration, please visit One Wisconsin Now's great recaps here and here.

As you all know, yesterday was Juneteenth (see earlier posts). As nurses, it's a day to educate ourselves on the healthcare inequities that exist in our country, and to reflect on what can be done to bridge the divide.

In recognition of Juneteenth, my close friend and colleague Dian Palmer, RN had an op-ed published in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. I wanted to share a portion of her powerful statement (and encourage you to read the full article, here):

 

"For too long, our voices have been ignored. Finally an organization has stepped up to the plate to give nurses and other healthcare workers a real voice in the national healthcare debate. The stakes are too high and the issues are too important for caregivers not to get involved with Healthcare United. We were astonished to learn that over 30% of nurses here in Florida aren’t registered to vote. If we’re to achieve systematic reform then we must close that gap. The time is now for caregivers to stand up and be counted by not only registering, but also educating themselves and turning out in November.”

- Donna & Gary Williamson

 

In the 2004 presidential election, Bush beat Kerry by 3 million votes nationwide. In 2000, Gore beat Bush in the national vote by 500,000 votes.

There are over 10 million healthcare professionals and workers in the United States.

We at Healthcare United have been gathering information on voter registration for healthcare professionals and workers across the country. We don't know about everybody, but according to our data, one out of every four healthcare professionals and workers is not registered to vote. That means that even if you are registered to vote, chances are that many of your colleagues are not.

We've all heard about those spots in the country that seem to determine every election outcome - who can forget Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in Florida? -- but the truth is that in "battleground" or "swing" states, elections are regularly decided by just a few thousand votes. Kerry won Wisconsin by 11,000 votes; Bush won New Mexico by just under 6,000 votes.

In each of these states, there are thousands or tens of thousands of nurses, doctors and caregivers who are not registered to vote. If everybody registers, we will have the power to speak in the election in one voice. If we want to stand up for quality patient care and a fair and equitable healthcare system, we have to accept that this is our moment in history to make our voices heard.

If you are not yet registered to vote, click here to sign up ASAP. And if you are registered, chances are you work with people who are not - so click here to get them on board.

In our country, we are finally starting to address the critical issues of skyrocketing healthcare costs and shrinking healthcare coverage. But we have another healthcare crisis on our hands as well -- overall, people of color have substantially lower access to healthcare than whites, and that care is of substantially lower quality.

The National Conference of Black Mayors and the Service Employees International Union just released a report outlining the details of this crisis. Among the findings of the report:

• African Americans live 6-10 fewer years on average than whites, and are more likely to face illness during that time.
• African Americans are 25% more likely to die from cancer than whites, even adjusting for age.
• Even between people with similar levels of income and insurance, blacks were less likely to get the same quality of treatment for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other diseases than whites with the same illnesses.
• The gap in infant mortality rates between blacks and whites widened between 1980 and 2000, even as the overall infant mortality rate decreased.

While lack of health insurance coverage contributes to these disparities-Blacks, Latinos, Asian Americans and Native Americans are all less likely to have health insurance than whites - several other factors play a role as well. The NCBM/SEIU report highlights the fact that our current system concentrates medical resources in suburbs and wealthy communities, meaning that communities of color often experience a form of medical apartheid. The healthcare systems to which communities of color have access are of lower quality, with poorer hospitals, fewer board-certified physicians, lower access to specialists, and lower supplies of needed medications. In addition, people of color and the poor (of all races) are less likely to have a "medical home" - a doctor or healthcare provider they can see regularly to ask questions and address issues. Throw in language barriers for people not proficient in English and physician stereotypes when dealing with minority patients, and we have a crisis of healthcare inequality on our hands.

As we approach Juneteenth, the national day of celebration on June 19th commemorating the end of slavery in the US, let's recognize that our healthcare system in this country remains separate and unequal. And as we gather our strength to fight for healthcare for all in this election and beyond, let's commit to taking on these pernicious healthcare disparities once and for all!

We've all heard the horror stories of insurance companies denying coverage and hiking up prices on the basis of "pre-existing conditions." Too many of us have had this happen to us or our loved ones. But sometimes these stories switch from tragedy to farce, and we can really see how absurd it is that these insurance companies exercise so much power over our healthcare system.

Check out this story reported in the Chicago Tribune (emphasis is mine):

Even by insurance company logic, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois' decision to deny payment for Mitchell Berkowitz's tests was puzzling.

The 11-year-old had always been short for his age, ranking near the 5th percentile for growth. As he neared puberty, his mother, Julia, was concerned he might have an underlying condition that would prevent a normal growth spurt.

In July, she told Mitchell's pediatrician her worries, and the doctor ordered testing. The tests showed Mitchell would grow to a height of about 5 feet 5 inches-a stature his pediatrician and mother both considered normal.

Blue Cross even sent Julia Berkowitz a letter saying the insurance company agreed that her son had no growth-related conditions.

Still, Blue Cross refused to pay the $1,160 in claims, maintaining that Mitchell's pediatrician had diagnosed "short stature" before the tests were performed. Blue Cross took that to mean he had a pre-existing condition.

Berkowitz was confused. How could her son have a pre-existing condition if the tests show he does not, in fact, have that condition?

So a mother expresses a concern to her child's doctor, and because that concern was reported on his medical records, it suddenly became a "condition" that the company used to try to deny payment - payment for tests that confirmed that the child didn't even have the condition!

In the end, the mother was able to get the situation fixed with the help of a Chicago Tribune reporter. But as she remarked at the end of her ordeal:

"I feel like I've just had my eyes opened to what the industry is," Berkowitz said. "I just don't feel all that satisfied knowing this is a situation that's probably all too common."

One by one, we all open our eyes to what needs to be done - together we can make our voices heard and take back healthcare!

It's middle-class folks with health insurance, according to a new study. From the Baltimore Sun:

Who is jamming up these emergency departments? Listen to the political rhetoric and you'll hear it's all those uninsured - 47 million and counting. But a new study - and conversations with experts in the field - suggests uninsured patients nationally make up a small portion of those who use the emergency room for their medical problems, big and small. It's just 15 percent, according to a recent study.

The fastest-growing group of ER users turns out to be middle-class patients with insurance, people who usually get their health care from primary care physicians. Their share of visits jumped from 52.4 percent in the late 1990s to 59 percent in 2003-2004, according to a recent study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

"We felt there would be much more political will behind solving the emergency room crowding problem if everyone understood that ... [the increase is] not poor, homeless and uninsured. These are mainstream Americans," said Dr. Ellen J. Weber, an emergency room physician at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center and lead author of the study. "It's eventually going to affect you."

The healthcare crisis is poised to get a lot of airtime this coming year. As part of the Divided We Fail campaign, hundreds of writers and producers are pledging to address the issues of healthcare bankruptcy, the widespread lack of insurance, and other challenges in television shows and movies. According to USA TODAY:

"The filmmakers, the storytellers, are the ones who are going to make this happen," says Jeffrey Katzenberg, chairman of the Motion Picture & Television Fund and CEO of DreamWorks Animation SKG. "They know how to entertain and enlighten at the same time."

Among the steps campaign members plan to take:

• Producing TV shows and movies that talk about health care issues in an accurate way.
• Pushing health care with political leaders.
• Setting an example by examining in-house health insurance plans.

"We're entering the height of the political debate," Katzenberg says. "We all understand how much these next four to eight years represent as far as the future and direction of health care." [emphasis added]

Let’s keep our eyes open for the fruits of their labors – and let’s make sure that healthcare workers’ voices are included in these stories!

Healthcare workers across Wisconsin collected more than 3,000 signatures from colleagues in healthcare calling on Congress to reverse President Bush's proposed massive cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. A delegation from Healthcare United met with Sen. Herb Kohl's office on May 30, 2008, to turn in the petitions and to share personal stories about how the $200 billion in cuts would harm patient care and safe staffing.

This year, shareholders are asking many of our country’s largest and most influential corporations to take a real stand on the healthcare debate. Many corporations played a key role in blocking healthcare reform in the 1990s, so shareholders and other activists are trying to get these companies to support universal healthcare reform now. Some companies, particularly those that are drowning in healthcare costs, have come out in favor of universal healthcare. But many companies have fought back tooth and nail to keep these issues out of their shareholder meetings.

Sadly, one of those companies was UnitedHealth, a gigantic health insurance corporation. By my calculations, the top five publicly traded health insurance companies made over $11.7 billion dollars last year off the current system, so it’s not surprising that a health insurance company would want to squash any attempt by shareholders to get the company to commit to reform. It was sad, though, to see UnitedHealth’s logic as the company argued against allowing the shareholder resolution to go on the ballot. From the New York Times:

Lawyers […] representing UnitedHealth, told the S.E.C., “The proposal provides that ‘health care should be universal,’ dictating to whom the company should provide coverage.” Moreover, they said, by asserting that “health care coverage should be affordable,” the proposal usurps the company’s right to decide what prices to charge for its policies.

Even after the commission told UnitedHealth to include the proposal in its proxy statement on April 2, the company urged the agency to reconsider, saying, “The proposal does not relate to a ‘significant social policy issue,’ as that term has been defined” by the commission.

So that’s what the company thinks of the principles of “universality” and “affordability,” huh? Fortunately, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled in favor of shareholders, saying that the healthcare crisis definitely does constitute a real “social issue” worthy of being discussed in a shareholder meeting. And UnitedHealth has since posted a statement on its website professing its support for universal healthcare.

But we’ll have to watch out to make sure they stay true to their word!

A fantastic op-ed piece in the Boston Globe yesterday by a doctor speaking out against the crisis facing family care physicians. An excerpt:

MRS. J. LOOKED baffled and hurt. I had just explained that I would no longer be her primary care doctor. I was leaving the field after just three years. "I have had three different primary care doctors over the past 10 years," she said. "You can't leave now. I was just starting to feel comfortable. I am getting older now. I can't keep changing doctors!"

Primary care is in crisis. Current primary care doctors are quitting, and medical students are pursuing other specialties. Primary care has lost its attractiveness as a profession because of poor compensation and plummeting job satisfaction. Primary care physicians are in short supply, and in Massachusetts, this problem has intensified in the wake of healthcare reform, as more than 300,000 previously uninsured individuals have joined in the search for available doctors.

As a former primary care physician, I am most troubled by the antagonistic state of the patient-doctor relationship. The system sets us against each other. Like many in the field, I chose primary care because I love people. I wanted to take care of the whole person, body and mind. I wanted the intimacy that comes with knowing your patients well and following them over many years. These goals are difficult to achieve in primary care today. After two years in my practice, I walked into an exam room one day and introduced myself to a patient. "We have met before," she replied, clearly aggravated. I was horrified and saddened.

This doctor’s piece also includes some recommendations for how to reform this system, and calls on all of us to speak out for revitalizing primary preventative care.

Read the whole article here.

This year it seemed to me that the media recognized Memorial Day with more color and solemnity than I’ve seen in a long time. We were reminded over and over that Memorial Day is really about remembering the sacrifice that each soldier makes.

As a nurse, as one who knows all too well what trauma can exact from a human body, I kept asking myself this question: How ought those of us who work in healthcare best “remember” the sacrifices that have been made?

It goes without saying that it isn’t hard for healthcare workers to actually picture the sacrifices—everything from loss of life to loss of limb to loss of mental stability. And yet this isn’t the sort of “remembering” we’re inclined to do at the end of a long workday (or on the rare holiday when we are so fortunate to have off along with everyone else!)

For some of us “remembering” might mean mourning: a wreath placed on a grave or at a war memorial, a moment of quiet reflection and prayer.

For others it might mean patriotism: flags and marching bands, convertibles carrying war heroes, gun salutes, the Blue Angels breaking the sound barrier overhead.

In the past, on Memorial Day, I’ve been more inclined to join the mourners. A veteran myself (I served as an Army nurse on the burn ward during the Vietnam War), I find patriotic displays offensive when they blind us to the fact that, beyond those parades moving through the dappled light of May, the bodies of precious loved ones have been crushed in war, perhaps as recently as only a moment ago.

I’ve been reading about the 1.8 million veterans who don’t have health insurance, the hundreds of thousands of veterans coming back with psychological wounds who can’t get the care they need from the VA, veterans committing suicide at the highest rates seen in decades.

I’ve been thinking, How is this possible? As a nation, have we forgotten our debt to each soldier who has served?

It occurs to me that healthcare workers, who have seen it all, are able to speak powerfully about this forgetting that is going on in our country—and not only in the military—when it comes to providing decent and affordable healthcare for the sick and wounded. We can “remember” in a way that is neither quietly mournful nor blindly patriotic. We can say what we know. And people will listen.

As for me, I will do my own remembering by writing to my Senators. I will remind them that “supporting the troops” means fully funding healthcare for them and their families. Moreover, in honor of the sacrifices all soldiers have made to this country, I will continue to speak out until all of us—the rich and the poor alike, the old veteran and the young veteran alike—get the care that our strong nation surely ought to provide for its citizens.

Hi everyone!  My name is Jessica Vollmer and I'm the State Coordinator for Healthcare United in Colorado.

For years I've been frustrated and upset with the problems I've witnessed in our healthcare system, and I'm excited to finally be able to do something about it.

Here in Colorado, we recently launched a statewide campaign for Healthcare United.  We thought it would be helpful to break up the different parts of the campaign into five committees or working groups, so that folks would be able to gravitate to the types of activities and efforts they enjoy the most.

For instance, those who want to help on the Media and Communications committee would work on helping to set up events such as press conferences, write letters to the editor, share healthcare stories online and blog.

The Electoral Action team will help organize voter registration drives, phonebanking nights, and community and neighborhood awareness teams.  Members of this committee could also help with rallies and trainings in order to Get Out the Vote!

A temporary group formed for the DNC Convention to build large crowds for healthcare rallies and participate in events supporting affordable and quality healthcare.

The Policy and & Grassroots Lobbying committee will focus on getting systemic healthcare reform passed before the end of 2009.  Members of this committee will help develop education materials about federal policy options, and help incorporate best substantive policy ideas from recent state legislative efforts.

Lastly, the Growth & Outreach committee - which we hope everyone will be a part of! - will be organizing lots and lots of house meetings and public meetings; spreading the word about Healthcare United through professional caregiver networks and at healthcare facilities; staffing informational and recruitment booths or tables at healthcare conferences; and phoning and canvassing caregivers in their homes, to invite them to get involved.

There are plenty of ways for Colorado nurses and healthcare workers to raise their voice and demand changes to our healthcare system!  If you know of a caregiver in the state who would be interested in joining us, please tell them to contact me via e-mail or to call our office at 303-727-8082.  By coming together around our state, we will make sure to win these necessary reforms by 2009!

With the chills of winter all but faded away in the Buckeye State, the Healthcare United Campaign is ready to turn up the volume and make the voices of healthcare workers and nurses from across the state heard as we head into the heat of Election 2008.

With over 140,000 registered nurses and healthcare workers in Ohio, the Healthcare United Campaign will create a dialogue on healthcare reform that embraces the on-the-ground perspective of nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals. By the end of the summer, hundredss of healthcare professionals will emerge as the leaders in the movement towards healing the healthcare system by sharing their stories, experiences, and solutions to the unique challenges they face everyday with legislators, and aspiring office holders. More specifically, Ohio healthcare workers will be working with Ohio Healthy Families to collect petition signatures for mandatory paid sick days, and registering healthcare workers to vote.

In the long struggle for healthcare reform, there are some battles that I’m shocked we even have to fight. Unfair insurance rescission is one of them – that’s when an insurance company decides to retroactively declare that you’re ineligible for coverage, even after you’ve been paying your premiums for months or even years. Regulators and law enforcement officials have charged companies with unreasonably dropping coverage, some say to get out of paying large claims. Regardless of one’s perspective on healthcare reform overall, unfair insurance rescission is too raw an injustice to ever be tolerated.

But the good news is that patients have won a victory in California! After much public outcry, two California health insurers have just agreed to reinstate coverage for 1,200 people that they had previously cut off. There are still thousands more people in California waiting for restitution, and some health insurers are facing lawsuits and criminal investigations over these practices. And we still have a long fight ahead of us to make abolish discrimination on pre-existing conditions. But even though we shouldn’t have to fight this battle against unfair insurance terminations in the first place, it’s still important to celebrate the victories along the way.

Click here to learn more about unfair insurance terminations and add your name to the growing number of healthcare workers speaking out against this terrible practice.