Members Come Together at Historic Healthcare Summit
On March 31, over a hundred SEIU 503 members
came together from all corners of the state for
historic Healthcare Summit in Salem.
specifies that non-traditional Health Workers will provide
culturally and linguistically appropriate services to reduce
health disparities, improve care and reduce costs.
It was an opportunity for care providers and state agency
employees to explore the complexities of healthcare issues,
to discuss their concerns with each other and to find areas
of common ground. Members enthusiastically engaged and
shared their personal stories with each other across sectors.
Looking ahead to 2014, health reform implementation will
continue by:
Attendees learned sobering statistics about the Current status of
healthcare in America, including the fact that healthcare costs
have increased at 7 times the rate of inflation, and that the US
spends more money per person on healthcare than any other
country, but we are number fifty in life expectancy.
The event also included breakout sessions by sector, in which
care providers addressed issues such as affordability, access
to care, prevention and wellness, and the health insurance
mandate. Care providers also learned about the history and
future of healthcare transformation, and strategized about the
path forward.
in1981 Oregon became the first state to win a Medicaid waiver
to provide nursing facility level of càre in home and community
based settings. This system became the model for the nation to
rebalance the delivery of care, providing a continuum and array
of choices for those who need 24/7 càre and rehab, whether
in home or community settings like Assisted Living, Nursing
Facilities, Residential Care Facility, or Adult Foster Homes.
The healthcare transformation bill passed by the Oregon
Legislature this year creates Coordinated Care Organizations
(CCOs) which will cover all Medicaid recipients. The bill also
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Expanding Medicaid from 100% of Federal Poverty Level
to 133%;
Requiring individuals to have insurance;
Guaranteeing availability of insurance regardless of health
status;
•
Penalizing employers who don't provide coverage;
•
Creating a Health Insurance Exchange that will provide
an opportunity to shop for quality affordable plans for
individuals and small employers;
•
Enabling employers to reward employees for participation
in wellness programs.
“This is just a partial list of the coming changes. With so much
happening, nobody is claiming expertise in these areas.
However, the Summit was a launching point to create the
opportunity for further discussloh, and to empower members
to take action. Homecare worker Carol Conlon (Grants Pass)
observed, "The Healthcare Summit was awesome! I am so
encouraged and so proud of our forward-thinking Union!"
liomecare worker Darryl Pickens (Portland) summed up, "the
meeting was absolutely paramount. It broke everything
down so that you could see what happened to healthcare and
how we can address it in the future. Standing up as a group,
standing together, that's the only way we can progress!"