|
CodeBlueNow! Wants The Public to Have a Voice in Health
CodeBlueNow! intends to make sure the American public has a voice in the health care reform debate this time around. How? By inviting the public to participate in a grassroots effort to reform our health care system, one community at a time.
“All attempts to reform the health care system so far have failed. They’ve been held hostage to partisan politics and special interests—leaving the American public with the false assumption that we only have only two, but very divisive choices—‘health savings accounts and personal responsibility’ vs. ‘health care is a right, single-payer,’ when in fact both are true. We’ve been beating each other up for years over these differences rather than do what the finalists in our competition* did—blended them to work for everyone,” says KathleenO’Connor, Publisher, The O’ConnorReport and Founder, CodeBlueNow! stresses.
CodeBlueNow! America’s Health Care Voice, will take to the road in June as part of a national Whistle Stop Tour to engage the American public in a real discussion of how to change the health care system so it works for the American public. She will take the findings from the O’ConnorReport/CodeBlueNow! Challenge and listen to the ideas of the American public so they can finally participate in the discussion.
CodeBlueNow!’s five month Whistle Stop Tour” begins in Washington State in June then heads to dozens of communities around the Pacific Northwest this summer, including Dayton, Pomeroy, Spokane, Bellingham, Colfax, Yakima and Vancouver, WA and Portland and Bend, OR among others. The Washington and Oregon meetings are being arranged, in part, with the help of the state Rural Health Associations.
During these visits, CodeBlueNow! will host discussions with the contestants and others in their communities, listen to their concerns and build consensus around what our health care system should do. The findings will be presented at the “American Health Care Congress” this fall. After that Grassroots Congress, CodeBlueNow! will produce a road map for reform to present to the Beltway Congress.
“We want real citizen-driven health care, not this spin-city consumer directed health care stuff that all these insurance companies are talking about,” O’Connor says.
The health care system isn’t working for most Americans: only 50 cents of every health care dollar actually provides for patient care. We spend nearly $6,000 for every man, woman and child, yet are ranked far below other industrialized nations for the quality of our care.
“We pay more, but we get less,” O’Connor says. “This must change. The ideas we have at CodeBlueNow! from our competition are innovative, ingenious, and--better yet--feasible,” O’Connor says. “I have been writing about health care politics and policy for 25 years. These people have wonderful ideas. Not only have they put a lot of thought into this, but they included their hearts and souls as well, and just keep thanking us for giving them a voice. This just goes to show that if we tap the ingenuity of the American public, we really can solve a problem rather than legislating or mandating it to death.”
The first National American Health Care Congress will take place October 12th in Ontario, California. The event is co-sponsored by the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, the West End Health Care Advisory Council in Ontario, California, and Nexus Forums in Los Angeles. John Kitzhaber, MD, will be the keynote speaker.
The purpose of the Congress is to lay out a local action plan, as well as refine the ideas that emerged from the “Build an American Health System” challenge and the Whistle Stop Tour, and craft vital elements of a health care system that can finally work for the American public. The master plan that comes out of this contest will be presented to Congress, the White House and the National Governors’ Association.
Former Washington Governor Booth Gardner and former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, MD, have just joined CodeBlueNow!’s Honorary Board and St. Luke’s Health Initiatives in Arizona has joined the Affiliates Council.
*Build an American Health System Contest 10/03
Back to top
Kathleen O’Connor, MA, Publisher, The O’ConnorReport, writes a regular column for The Seattle Times. Visit www.oconnorhealthanalyst.com for more information.
|
