Invite your rep! Learn the truth about the Massachusetts universal health care model

Please call your Representative and invite him or her to attend a briefing on "National Lessons from State Health Reform: The Massachusetts Case Study", on Wednesday, February 25, 2009, from 2 to 4 p.m., 2226 Rayburn House Office Building.

In the last two decades over a half dozen state health reform acts have attempted to provide universal health care coverage. Critical analysis of these models is essential to national health care reform. The February 25 forum will consider the most recent state health care overhaul this country has seen. What can we learn from Massachusetts and is it a model for national health policy?

The 'Massachusetts model' includes many of the policy features currently being considered in national health care reform, including individual mandates, subsidized private insurance for low-income individuals, employer "play or pay" provisions, and the creation of an insurance exchange designed to promote competition and encourage insurers to offer adequate and affordable coverage. We feel it is especially important to consider the lessons of the 'Massachusetts model' before incorporating any of these features into a national health care reform bill.

Panelists will represent health centers, insurance brokers, physicians, nurses and patients. They include:

• David Himmelstein, MD, Cambridge Hospital Physician, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School
  
• Sandy Eaton, RN, Massachusetts Nurses Association
  
• Jamie Eldridge, Massachusetts State Senator
  
• Peter Knowlton, President of the United Electrical Workers Northeast Region
  
• Mary Ford, former Mayor of Northampton and Human Services Manager
  
• Robert Gaw, President, National Association of Socially Responsible Organizations, Health Benefits Administrator
  
• Arthur MacEwan, PhD, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts/Boston
  

In order to provide a multifaceted view of the Massachusetts reform, the forum will be run like a congressional hearing. We are inviting Congressional Members to join the 'Committee' of Representatives to listen to witness testimony and ask questions of the expert panel. Congressman Eric Massa [NY-29] will serve as Chairman. The forum is open to the public.

For an announcement from Healthcare-NOW, click here. For an invitation, click here. 

The forum is open to the public. Please RSVP with Jessica Yarbrough at the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, jyarbrough@calnurses.org or (202) 974-8300.