Bush Attacks Hospitals——Please Tell Him NO

Just as we're gearing up for our campaign to save Fairmont Hospital by pushing the county to dedicate funds to rebuilding that campus, we’ve been sucker-punched by Dubya!
 
President Bush is poised to take advantage of the fine print in the rule that currently pays public hospitals up to 150% of costs to offset indigent care, reducing the percentage to 100% of costs. His reasons are obvious given the recent downturn in the economy and his having given away the surplus in those tax rebate checks he’s so proud of (did that make a big difference in any of your lives?).
 
The Board of Trustees of the Alameda County Medical Center said at their August 27th meeting, if Bush reduces the upper payment limit of 150% to 100%, in Alameda County this would mean a $14-15 million loss per year. Melinda Paras, Chair of the Trustees Board, said it would be "astoundingly difficult for the Medical Center. If thrust upon us, crucial services and programs must be reduced." Peter Praetz, the CFO, said that the impact would be $7 million on the current budget, and Paras directed him to immediately plan which programs would have to be eliminated. Kenneth Cohen, the new CEO of the Medical Center, said the most vulnerable services would be the skilled nursing facility (120 beds at Fairmont Hospital), some outpatient services, and then community clinics if that didn’t make up the deficit.
 
A member of the Board asked Ken Cohen whether this was just another scare in the public hospital sector, or if he believed it could be real. Cohen responded, "This could be a reality soon. It doesn’t appear to be the usual posturing. This is as serious a funding threat as we will see." Paras announced that "The functioning of Highland Hospital is in jeopardy. There is the potential of all public hospitals in California closing if these cuts are made."
 
The three states this will impact most are California, Illinois and New York. In Los Angeles, SEIU hospital workers are responding with a mass rally at the county hospital on September 6th. But that may be too late.
 
I hope you share my sense of urgency about this issue and are willing and able to follow up on it as soon as possible. We urgently need you to take five minutes as soon as possible to email or call Secretary Tommy Thompson and President Bush to oppose this direct assault on care for the uninsured, including immigrants, people of color, and low-income families. The decision could come any day now (this is written August 28.)
 
Please write to Secretary Tommy Thompson, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201.
Phone: (202) 619-0257, toll free at (877)696-6775.
Email: hhsmail@os.dhhs.gov
 
George must hear from us all on this topic, too:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461
Email: president@whitehouse.gov
 

Secretary Tommy Thompson
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
 

Dear Secretary Thompson:

            I am writing to urge you to keep the Medicaid federal
rule on upper payment limit at 150% of costs to offset indigent
care, rather than reducing it to 100%.  In Alameda County, where
I reside, this reduction of federal monies would mean a loss of
$14-15 million per budget year to the county hospital system.
This would result in devastating cuts in health care services.
The county medical center is already woefully under-funded and
cannot meet the needs of the un/underinsured population.

            The Alameda County Medical Center stated in its
August Board of Trustees meeting that in order to make up the
immediate resulting deficit, it would have to eliminate its
skilled nursing facility, rehabilitation unit, several outpatient
services, and possibly the community clinics.  The existence of
every public hospital in California would be jeopardized at a
time when increasing numbers of residents are forced to rely on
safety net providers because of our country’s lack of universal
health coverage.

            This proposed reduction in reimbursement rates would
produce a crisis in health care, which would result in many more
serious illnesses and deaths across our state.  I understand that
President Bush wants more funding for military at the same time
he is willing to slash our public health care system.   This lack
of compassion for our country’s poor is painful to contemplate.
Please do everything in your power to keep the upper payment
limit at 150%.

George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Bush:

            I am writing to urge you to keep the Medicaid federal
rule on upper payment limit at 150% of costs to offset indigent
care, rather than reducing it to 100%.  In Alameda County, where
I reside, this reduction of federal monies would mean a loss of
$14-15 million per budget year to the county hospital system.
This would result in devastating cuts in health care services.
The county medical center is already woefully under-funded and
cannot meet the needs of the un/underinsured population.

            The Alameda County Medical Center stated in its
August Board of Trustees meeting that in order to make up the
immediate resulting deficit, it would have to eliminate its
skilled nursing facility, rehabilitation unit, several outpatient
services, and possibly the community clinics.  The existence of
every public hospital in California would be jeopardized at a
time when increasing numbers of residents are forced to rely on
safety net providers because of our country’s lack of universal
health coverage.

            This proposed reduction in reimbursement rates would
produce a crisis in health care, which would result in many more
serious illnesses and deaths across our state. This lack of
compassion for our country’s poor is painful to contemplate.
Please do keep the upper payment limit of costs to offset
indigent care at 150%.

HOSPITAL BEDS, NOT JAIL CELLS
REPORT FROM SEPTEMBER 10, 2001 "CALL TO ACTION MEETING"

Members of Vote Health were energized on September 10th by an expanding coalition being formed to challenge the Countyís spending priorities. Clear consensus also emerged at the meeting to call upon Alameda County to change its priorities in favor of "SERVICES NOT CELLS."

Two members of the group Books not Bars, Rachel Jackson and Lenore Anderson, came to join forces with Vote Health. They are leaders in a highly successful campaign to get Alameda County to rethink the building of a "Super Jail" to house juvenile offenders. The Emerald Fund is a prime funding source for the Sheriffís plan to replace the 299-bed juvenile detention facility in San Leandro with a 450-bed (down from the originally planned 540 bed) facility in Dublin. Books Not Bars and the Youth Force Coalition vehemently protest using these funds to move and expand Juvenile Hall to a remote East County location.

There was a broad consensus at the Call to Action Meeting in support of Books not Bars' position on the juvenile detention facility:

• Maximum alternatives to detention
• Minimum number of beds
• Any juvenile facility should be in a safe and accessible location.

Ms. Jackson noted that in the past year, the number of youth to be placed in Juvenile Hall has actually dropped, due to implementation of just a few of the alternatives to detention. Books not Bars is confident that the number could drop even further if more alternatives to detention, which are working well in other locations, were put into place here.

Vote Health, the Youth Force Coalition, and Books not Bars have a point of unity in demanding that the funds be used for increasing services instead of incarcerating more youth, and Vote Health is specifically promoting the necessary investment in Fairmont Hospital.

After achieving consensus on the theme of ìSuper Services, not Super Jails,î Vote Health members turned to planning for the Emerald Fund Hearing on September 25th. Our focus at the hearing will be the campaign to rebuild Fairmont Hospital. Community and labor support for the campaign is growing. The Alameda County Central Labor Council has endorsed the campaign to rebuild Fairmont!

Vote Health was gratified to learn that the Alameda County Medical Center Board of Trustees has also set the rebuilding of Fairmont as one of its top priority requests from the Emerald Fund. Specifically, the Board of Trustees is calling for the following support:

• Rebuilding the Fairmont Skilled Nursing Facility with 100 beds - $6.8 million
• Rebuilding the Fairmont Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility with 50 beds - $4 million
• Additional space for ancillary services (lab, pharmacy, and x-ray) to support the hospital services - $1.2 million
• Total Fairmont rebuilding request - $12 million

Between now and the Emerald Fund hearing on September 25th, Vote Health will be working on two fronts:

• Continuing to gather signatures on the Save Fairmont petitions. Over 1,000 signatures gathered to date! Call 653-1626 to get petitions to send to the Board of Supervisors, so we can meet our goal of 2,000 signatures.
• Build turnout for the hearing through Phone Banks.

*** Attend and speak out for super health care, not super jails, at the Board of Supervisors' Emerald Fund Hearing on September 25th from 1:30 - 4:30 p.m., at 1221 Oak Street, 5th Floor, in downtown Oakland.

Fairmont is a vital resource with a physical plant that has been allowed to fall into disrepair. Its services are unique and provide excellent care to the most vulnerable members of our community. Rebuilding Fairmont is an essential step in changing our County priorities in the right direction!

Express Your Outrage!

President Bush is poised to take advantage of the fine print in a rule that currently pays public hospitals up to 150% of costs to offset indigent care, reducing the percentage to 100% of costs. He gave us those tax rebate checks he's so proud of (did that make a big difference in any of your lives?) and now realizes he needed the money after all! Where else to get it than from services for poor people?

Locally, this would mean a $14-15 million loss per year to the Alameda County Medical Center. Melinda Paras, Chair of the Trustees Board, said it would be "astoundingly difficult for the Medical Center. If thrust upon us, crucial services and programs must be reduced." She later added, "The functioning of Highland Hospital is in jeopardy. There is the potential of all public hospitals in California closing if these cuts are made."

In response to this potential disaster, an unusual coalition of labor unions, the Medical Center administration, and community organizations (including Vote Health, of course) rallied in front of the Medical Center on Thursday, September 6th.

Almost 150 protesters heard from Kenneth Cohen, the new CEO of the Medical Center, Trustee Paras, Supervisors Nate Miley, Alice Lai-Bitker, and Gail Steele, and Fred Zierten of Vote Health, among others. Paras was particularly passionate about the destructiveness of the Bush Administration policies, giving "obscene tax cuts to wealthy while viciously cutting programs to help the indigent. Zierten reminded the crowd that the goal of obtaining single payer health care is more important than ever.

We urgently need you to take five minutes to email or call Secretary Tommy Thompson and President Bush to oppose this direct assault on care for the uninsured, including immigrants, people of color, and low-income families.

Please write in protest to Secretary Tommy Thompson, U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20201 or call (202)619-0257, toll free (877)696-6775 email: hhsmail@os.dhhs.gov; and George W. Bush, The White House,1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500, 202-456-1414, FAX: 202-456-2461, president@whitehouse.gov. We have sample letters to cut and paste on our website, www.VoteHealth.net.

Over 2000 Speak Out for Safe Staffing

Vote Health members joined 2000 nurses from all over California in a rousing rally,organized by the California Nurses Association, at the state capitol steps on September 6th. Diana M. Bontá, R.N., Dr.P.H., Director of the Department of Health Services, commended her sister and brother nurses for getting AB 394, the law requiring minimum nurse-to-patient ratios, passed. Her department heard two hours of heartfelt testimony about the necessity to implement the law immediately rather than wait for up to six years, as Kaiser Permanente has been pushing for.

Go Oregon!

Congratulations to Vote Health members for donating $1500 toward the Oregon campaign for a single payer health plan! They've collected about 13,000 signatures so far, and need 68,000 valid signatures by July 5, 2002. They have been thankful for the financial aid and for the generous coaching of Margot Smith, Vote Health Board Member and Berkeley Gray Panther.

Coordinator Mark Lindgren reports that it was very heartening to open the envelope full of checks at the last steering meeting, although fund-raising is still a critical need. If you would like to help them further the cause of seeing Single Payer become a reality, you can send a check made out to HCA-Oregon and mail it to Vote Health, PO Box 18922, Oakland, CA 94619. Please include a note with your occupation, which is required by state rules for political donations.