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Health Care Listening Tour
NEW REPORT: Community Leaders, Consumers, And Health Care Experts Recommend Statewide Solutions For Immediate Implementation In Virginia
Download Report (.pdf)
Presentations from Event:
HCLT Findings
Judy Solomon
NAMI
Rural Health Network
First-Ever Call To Action Based On Conversations From More
Than 40 Community Meetings
Virginians Want Better Health Care Information; Insurance for Children and Health Care Workers; Better Access to Health Care; And Improved Public Health
Virginians are calling for better information about the health care services available to them; health insurance for all of Virginia’s children and health care workers; better access to health care; and improvements to the Commonwealth’s public health, according to a new report released today by The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.
The report, based on a statewide Health Care Listening Tour sponsored by the Interfaith Center, draws its recommendations directly from conversations with more than 500 Virginians that took place across the state between March and September of this year.
“For too long the only voices heard on health care belonged to policymakers and corporate interests,” said Rev. C. Douglas Smith, the executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. “Our goal was to do something different by going directly to the people and presenting their unfiltered, honest needs to state leaders here in Richmond.”
According to the report, which also includes an analysis of the state of Virginia’s health care system, health care in Virginia is badly in need of reform. There are one million uninsured Virginians and another 2.2 million don’t have access to the health care they need. In addition, Virginia’s stringent income requirements for Medicaid mean that a family of four making anything over $41,300 per year wouldn’t qualify for Medicaid in Virginia—only two other states in the nation have more stringent requirements.
The report goes on to detail how Virginia’s health care system makes it hard for people, especially those who are low-income, live in rural areas, or suffer from mental illness to get the care they need when they need it. In addition, report authors outline Virginia’s need for improvement in specific areas like chronic disease prevention and management, transportation to health care clinics, food policy, health information technology, immunizations, and prescription drug price relief.
Specifically, the report, Virginians Raise Their Voices for Better Health Care, recommends Virginia:
- Improve communication and consumer outreach efforts by creating a one-stop online health information and referral center. This website would connect consumers to existing health care resources and programs. In addition, it would explain state sponsored programs and specifics about health insurance plans offered by private insurers.
- Insure all of Virginia’s children and health care workers by expanding access to Virginia’s SCHIP program through the creation of sliding scale premiums in the program to cover families between 200% and 300% of poverty. This would allow families to buy coverage based on their ability to pay. For those families making more than 300% of poverty, a full buy-in option would be available. And, allow health care workers who are uninsured to buy in to public health care programs like Medicaid.
- Eliminate barriers to health and health care by creating Incentive Funds that local communities could use to make it easier for people to get health care. For example, these funds could be used to pay for taxis, shuttles or additional public bus hours so people could get to and from clinics. In addition, make mental health care move available by dedicating funds to reopening closed psychiatric wards in hospitals and expanding laws for involuntary commitment.
- Tackle Virginian’s public health concerns and improve the quality of health care Virginians receive by better educating, recruiting and retaining health care workers. In addition, Virginia should:
- Expand mobile early disease detection programs like mammograms, blood tests, cholesterol screenings and pap smears.
- Expand Medicaid to include dental health care so problems are treated before they get out of control and become expensive.
- Redesign communities to make it possible for people to exercise in their neighborhoods.
- Update the food stamp program so people can use food stamps to buy healthy food at farmer’s markets.
Report authors state that these community-based recommendations come at a good time as the Governor’s Health Reform Commission wraps up its work and makes its recommendations. It is the author’s hope that these recommendations will inform the Commission’s work as well as independently encourage policymakers to listen to the voices of Virginians as they work to reform health care in Virginia.
“The health problems facing Virginia are not limited to just one county or city, they are impacting all of us,” said Douglas. “We need to work together to ensure that these recommendations from everyday Virginians are heard and taken seriously.”
Methods
The Health Care Listening Tour was sponsored by The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. Community meetings took place between March 8th and September 12, 2007. Meetings were held in more than 40 locations across the state including Richmond, Roanoke, Chester, Culpeper, Fredericksburg, Blacksburg, and others. Groups met in congregations, lecture halls, and private homes to respond to two questions:
- What should our health care system in Virginia guarantee for all people?
- What is a fundamental health care right we all believe is basic and compassionate?
Participant responses were gathered and compiled by Interfaith center staff who drafted this report.
The Virginia Interfaith Center is a nonpartisan coalition of faith communities working to create change through education and public policy.
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Health Care Listening Tour
NEW REPORT: Community Leaders, Consumers, And Health Care Experts Recommend Statewide Solutions For Immediate Implementation In Virginia
Download Report (.pdf)
Presentations from Event:
HCLT Findings
Judy Solomon
NAMI
Rural Health Network
First-Ever Call To Action Based On Conversations From More
Than 40 Community Meetings
Virginians Want Better Health Care Information; Insurance for Children and Health Care Workers; Better Access to Health Care; And Improved Public Health
Virginians are calling for better information about the health care services available to them; health insurance for all of Virginia’s children and health care workers; better access to health care; and improvements to the Commonwealth’s public health, according to a new report released today by The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.
The report, based on a statewide Health Care Listening Tour sponsored by the Interfaith Center, draws its recommendations directly from conversations with more than 500 Virginians that took place across the state between March and September of this year.
“For too long the only voices heard on health care belonged to policymakers and corporate interests,” said Rev. C. Douglas Smith, the executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. “Our goal was to do something different by going directly to the people and presenting their unfiltered, honest needs to state leaders here in Richmond.”
According to the report, which also includes an analysis of the state of Virginia’s health care system, health care in Virginia is badly in need of reform. There are one million uninsured Virginians and another 2.2 million don’t have access to the health care they need. In addition, Virginia’s stringent income requirements for Medicaid mean that a family of four making anything over $41,300 per year wouldn’t qualify for Medicaid in Virginia—only two other states in the nation have more stringent requirements.
The report goes on to detail how Virginia’s health care system makes it hard for people, especially those who are low-income, live in rural areas, or suffer from mental illness to get the care they need when they need it. In addition, report authors outline Virginia’s need for improvement in specific areas like chronic disease prevention and management, transportation to health care clinics, food policy, health information technology, immunizations, and prescription drug price relief.
Specifically, the report, Virginians Raise Their Voices for Better Health Care, recommends Virginia:
- Improve communication and consumer outreach efforts by creating a one-stop online health information and referral center. This website would connect consumers to existing health care resources and programs. In addition, it would explain state sponsored programs and specifics about health insurance plans offered by private insurers.
- Insure all of Virginia’s children and health care workers by expanding access to Virginia’s SCHIP program through the creation of sliding scale premiums in the program to cover families between 200% and 300% of poverty. This would allow families to buy coverage based on their ability to pay. For those families making more than 300% of poverty, a full buy-in option would be available. And, allow health care workers who are uninsured to buy in to public health care programs like Medicaid.
- Eliminate barriers to health and health care by creating Incentive Funds that local communities could use to make it easier for people to get health care. For example, these funds could be used to pay for taxis, shuttles or additional public bus hours so people could get to and from clinics. In addition, make mental health care move available by dedicating funds to reopening closed psychiatric wards in hospitals and expanding laws for involuntary commitment.
- Tackle Virginian’s public health concerns and improve the quality of health care Virginians receive by better educating, recruiting and retaining health care workers. In addition, Virginia should:
- Expand mobile early disease detection programs like mammograms, blood tests, cholesterol screenings and pap smears.
- Expand Medicaid to include dental health care so problems are treated before they get out of control and become expensive.
- Redesign communities to make it possible for people to exercise in their neighborhoods.
- Update the food stamp program so people can use food stamps to buy healthy food at farmer’s markets.
Report authors state that these community-based recommendations come at a good time as the Governor’s Health Reform Commission wraps up its work and makes its recommendations. It is the author’s hope that these recommendations will inform the Commission’s work as well as independently encourage policymakers to listen to the voices of Virginians as they work to reform health care in Virginia.
“The health problems facing Virginia are not limited to just one county or city, they are impacting all of us,” said Douglas. “We need to work together to ensure that these recommendations from everyday Virginians are heard and taken seriously.”
Methods
The Health Care Listening Tour was sponsored by The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy. Community meetings took place between March 8th and September 12, 2007. Meetings were held in more than 40 locations across the state including Richmond, Roanoke, Chester, Culpeper, Fredericksburg, Blacksburg, and others. Groups met in congregations, lecture halls, and private homes to respond to two questions:
- What should our health care system in Virginia guarantee for all people?
- What is a fundamental health care right we all believe is basic and compassionate?
Participant responses were gathered and compiled by Interfaith center staff who drafted this report.
The Virginia Interfaith Center is a nonpartisan coalition of faith communities working to create change through education and public policy.
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