Health Action NM: Two Important Events

From Health Action NM:
Citizens Health Care Working Group Meeting
Monday, MARCH 20, 2006
5:30 to 8:30 PM / ABQ Convention Center

HANM invites all advocates to go to the Citizens Health Care Working Group Meeting on March 20, 2006. Meetings are being held across the country. This is our chance to tell Congress what we believe are the solutions to the crisis in health care delivery in the USA. See details below. Make copies and encourage everyone to come. We need your voice at the meeting!

Register now to participate in the Albuquerque Community meeting! On line at www.citizenhealthcare.gov, by phone at 505-880-8882

HANM Monthly Meeting
Thursday, APRIL 6, 2006 / 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM 
(brown bag - bring your lunch - drinks provided)
An important update on what passed the legislature and what did not!!
OUTCOMES INC., NASW Conference Room
1503 University NE, Albuquerque
(just north of Indian School on the west side of University- take service road immediately south of the Blood Bank, first parking lot on the left)

The Citizens Health Care Working Group has been established by Congress to:

ENGAGE Americans in a public debate about shaping a health care system that would provide every American with the ability to obtain quality, affordable health care; and

PRESENT Recommendations to Congress and the President in the fall of 2006 followed by Congressional Hearings in 2007.

The Citizens' Health Care Working Group is asking the American public to respond to the following questions:

• What concerns you most about the health care system in America today?
• Our current way of paying for health care includes payments by individuals, employers, and Government. Are there any changes you think should be made to the system?
• What trade-offs do you think the American public is willing to make in either benefits or financing to ensure access to affordable, high quality health care coverage and services?
• What is your single most important recommendation to make or improve health care for all Americans?

These questions can be answered on line at www.citizenshealthcare.gov (available in Spanish). Versions available to print out and mail in.

Nationally, the Making Health Care Work for all Campaign, of which Health Action NM is a part, is organized to:

1. maximize effective input into the Citizen’s Health Care Working Group Process;
2. IMPACT the recommendations of the Working Group with thousands of voices across the country advocating for prompt comprehensive reform that leads to equal access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans; and
3. provide strategic information, ideas, and support for local, state and national organizations to effectively engage their members, allies and the public in the Working Group’s process.

At a minimum we want to tell the President and Congress that:

• Quality affordable health care for all is a moral right, and both a medical and economic necessity for our nation.
• We can afford health care for all by making health care more efficient, more effective and less wasteful.
• The American public wants prompt attention by our political leaders to achieve this goal and will respond accordingly. We affirm the 2004 recommendations of the Institute of Medicine that our federal government must lead in developing a strategy to achieve universal coverage by 2010.
• To fulfill our nations commitment to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we have a shared responsibility to ensure that all people have the health care they need, when they need it, and at a fair and reasonable cost.

For more information go to: www.uhcan.org

HEALTH CARE IN NEW MEXICO MUST:

• Be seen as an individual right for all New Mexicans regardless of ability to pay
• Be the responsibility of the community to ensure these rights for all New Mexicans
• Provide universal and equitable coverage for everyone
• Be accessible to the whole community in both rural and urban settings
• Be comprehensive, including the choice of a full range of services and providers to promote and maintain physical, behavioral and mental health
• Provide high quality and appropriate care in a timely manner
• Be affordable to avoid financial hardship on individuals and families and be equitably funded based upon ability to pay
• Be publicly accountable, both to the communities it serves and to the government and/or other entities which provide much of its funding
• Provide culturally specific, culturally diverse, and linguistically appropriate services
• Ensure a strong public health system organized to integrate the health care delivery system with community, preventive and social services, and maintain a safe and healthy environment for all
• Have simplified administration so that individuals and providers are not burdened with administrative and logistical obstacles to the receipt or provision of care
• Ensure that government plays a key role in containing costs, eliminating waste, maximizing efficiency of resources, and in all cases, put people before profits

NM Public Health Association Annual Conference
APRIL 5-7, 2006
Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Albuquerque
For registration details go to: www.nmpha.org or contact Melissa Maez at 505-260-0993.