What are YOUR barriers to care? York OC hosts community healthcare forum

A healthcare forum, hosted by the York O.C. of Put People First – PA in partnership with the York NAACP and Centro Hispano Jose Hernandez of York, was held on September 27, 2016 at the Crispus Attucks Community Center. Nearly 40 residents of York County across the spectrums of age, race, ability, gender, orientation and socioeconomic status gathered to share stories about everything from being “talked down to” in more ways than one as a patient in a wheelchair to difficulties with translation in the emergency room. Here are some reflections and takeaways – with an emphasis on next steps – from some of the PPF members who participated in the forum.
One consistent theme of the night was preventive treatment. Not all provider offices are fully set up to actually prevent illnesses from becoming chronic or life threatening. And not only that, I hear many folks share how devalued they feel as a patient.  That providers are not fully listening to actual need of patients. They just jump straight to the conclusions and treatments. What we fail to understand as healthcare professionals is that it really doesn’t matter what “we” think when being in front of a patient. But it’s all about hearing what the patient has to say. So many patients head to the ER where their need is heard and met quickly.
Affordability was also a key theme. Folks cannot simply afford the treatment these days. They cant afford prescriptions to help prevent illnesses.
Language barrier was another. There isn’t enough to bilingual staff to accommodate Hispanic people. This causes a mistrust with the Hispanic community because they don’t feel understood.
Also, the paperwork that providers ask patients to fill out are overwhelming. Many patients can’t understand how to fill them out.
Overall, there is a lack of communication regarding the medical services that are provided in our community. Continuity and communication are big issues.
– Shane Moore

Exorbitant drug costs, insurance companies changing formulas at whim, and the need for time and skill for advocacy to battle with gatekeepers all seem to be shared concerns.  People seemed to appreciate the chance to voice their grievances. I look forward to the opportunity  to give greater emphasis to the call for universal health care and single payer solutions. That message must be spoken and heard.  So few people even consider it as a possibility!  

I could see us looking for more opportunities to hear health care concerns, e.g. in combination with the PPF surveys, at malls, at market, and at community events. We could work more with the Latino community and providers to help them work towards possible solutions in terms of patient comfort. We could also do some training for volunteer advocates to take on the insurance gatekeepers on a case-by-case basis.

In  T.R. Reid’s book The Healing of America it is stated repeatedly that we need to “lay bare the moral question at the heart of our troubled system, dissecting the misleading rhetoric surrounding the health care debate”.  I believe we try to do that.  I think we must do more to create the political will for universal healthcare.  We really must engage everyone in the conversation that it is not only possible, but morally imperative AND our right to demand universal access to adequate care.
– Val Kater

The forum was covered further in the York Dispatch.

Help Johnstown Member Bella Bounce Back!

29979547992_f513390f22_oIsabella (Bella) Oliveras is an amazing leader who recently joined the blossoming Johnstown organizing committee. About a dozen people from Johnstown made the trip to Harrisburg for the Membership Assembly on October 1-2. Bella brought warmth and passion to the membership assembly. She called us to action, and she implored us to keep fighting until everyone has their basic needs met, including healthcare. Now, Bella is crowdfunding for a much-needed motorized wheelchair and healthcare. We can join together and help Bella get the care that she needs but that the current system won’t give her.

Bella is a veteran and a former nurse and paramedic. She has several chronic illnesses and health conditions, including carpal tunnel and asthma, which make her manual wheelchair difficult to use. Her GoFundMe reads:

“Unfortunately, insurance will not approve Bella’s dire need for a motorized wheelchair despite a clear and justified case for it. So please consider making a contribution today to help raise the required funds needed for the motorized wheelchair, which is estimated to cost a minimum of $14,000; and to support ongoing additional medical expenses and current needs related to wheel chair adjustments, significant dental work, and assistance with medical fees i.e. cost-prohibitive medication. I know you would agree that NO ONE should have to choose between putting food on the table vs. purchasing life-saving medicine!”

To pledge your support to Bella, go to Help Bella Bounce Back!

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Reflecting on My First PPF-PA Membership Assembly

By Farrah Samuels

10/5/16

I’m still riding high off the buzz I got from being at the 4th Annual PPF Membership Assembly (MA) — my first! I had no idea what to expect, but I’m incredibly grateful to and in awe of the organizers and members who made this an amazing and unforgettable experience.

Throughout the weekend, we talked in various discussion groups and through collective open forum about a concern many of us share: that we have a medical community, big pharma and legislators who are in it to make a profit, not to care for the people. I felt every word I heard of PPF members’ stories — many that were much like mine — made visible finally from their dark shadows via the unique, welcoming, and nurturing family atmosphere that PPF-PA provides. Over this weekend, I found a forum of like-minded individuals from all walks of life with a shared vision. And I was recharged, inspired, and invigorated to finally have found my tribe.

As I walked in, registered with Ben from Pittsburgh, and paid my dues, I heard the sound of some fierce music coming from another room at the Grace Methodist Church, luring me in. It was “Glory,” the poignant, Oscar-winning song from the Selma movie soundtrack. It was followed by some other liberation type tracks like those of my Marvin Gaye (yes, MY Marvin). PPFers were busy putting up signs, distributing supplies, and posing for my pics (thanks Maddie and Sheila), as other newer members from different organizing committees got to know each other and filled the seats. It felt like a really cool family reunion!

I met heroes, sheroes, and theyroes, who turned test after test into testimonies through guided group discussions led by volunteer group moderators. Collectively, we reviewed PPF-PA’s timeline of historical accomplishments and actions.  I’m grateful to those who shared stories with me and listened to mine. One in particular sticks out of one of our members who was a young teenager with sixteen siblings during the 1960s, when Johnnie Tillmon wrote her quintessential narrative on welfare, a guaranteed minimum wage for all, self-determination, gender equality and roles, etc. We read the piece aloud in groups reflecting on gender, identity, leadership, what has changed since the piece was written and what similarities exist today. And for a second, I felt a kindred spirit in Johnnie Tillmon just in reading the first paragraph and thinking of my current “situation.”

Through my conversations with others, I learned much that I will carry with me and spread to others. One example is the need to stop thinking of gender as simply binary or this or that. I don’t actually think that way, but I speak that way out of habit. And frankly, it can be insensitive and trivialize the lived experience of another person I care for. So I decided to pinch myself every time I forgot to use the pronoun, “they,” when referring to our family and friends who do not conform to binary gender norms. I also learned from the group I moderated and by observing the many roles members stepped up to fill, that leadership comes in many different forms and is not just the loudest lion that roars. I heard the rhythm of Carla’s drum during what I can only describe as an activist’s ideal revival moment put into a song in a musical intermission. Carla organized us as if we were a harmonious three-part gospel choir, with one group calling for freedom, another responding that it’s coming, and the beat of a collective human heartbeat going on in the background with every bang of that drum. It’s as if our own voices were pushing us forward with renewed strength and energy towards this freedom in its various forms.

During my assigned childcare shift in the playroom upstairs. We danced, played and I’m still picking traces of gold glitter off my face and out of my afro. I saw the future in the faces of our children, who will be ready to grab the baton when it’s time for us to pass it on!

I learned a couple really good dirty jokes from Bella and the feisty Mrs. Fletcher, who should definitely open a haberdashery and epitomizes who I wanna be like when I grow up. I made lifelong friends that feel closer to me than some I’ve had for years!

We were treated to a talent showcase and awards ceremony emceed by Terrence and Carla, while sharing a wonderful dinner together on Saturday evening. I was deeply moved and inspired by the great poets of our group, musicians, and sage voices of wisdom from award honorees like Danelle, Kim, and Anna and leaders like Phil, Willie and Gary. And I am grateful for the feeling of solidarity and the outpouring of love so readily given by everyone there. I particularly remember the warm, heartfelt, long hug I received from Munroe that still snuggles me in my dreams like a warm blanket these past few nights.

The greatest lesson of all from this weekend, is that when we work together for the greater good and lift each other up, we all win!

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My eyes light up now when I see one of your posts on Facebook, or see an incoming call or text from a close friend who was a stranger to me just a short time ago! I know I am now part of a collective consciousness and family that truly has my back 100% no matter what!

The PPF-PA 4th MA was rejuvenating, life-transformative, and fueled with much needed hope, and inspiration to keep fighting on many fronts. We are not just numbers or names on a page. We are a diverse, unique, strong, compassionate, loving, intelligent, energetic walking, rolling, and crawling (baby Elijah) force to be reckoned with. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for; and in the words of the great Sam Cooke, “I know a change gon’ come. Oh yes it will.” For me, it already has just by showing up and participating in the 4th Annual Membership Assembly. Thank you all for sharing yourselves with me. Hope to see or hear from you soon.

2017 Insurance Rates: Will they be a Trick or a Treat?

This month, the Pennsylvania Insurance Department will announce health insurance premium rates on individual and small group plans for 2017, just ahead of the open enrollment period that begins in November. In July, the Department held its first annual public informational hearing on proposed rate increases following eight months of pressure from Put People First! PA (PPF-PA) members who engaged hundreds of impacted people and organizations across the state. At the hearing, dozens expressed opposition to rate increases, with story after story about how insurance companies are bankrupting PA families. Testifiers were supported by advocacy groups, public health organizations, unions and state legislators.

Citing rising healthcare costs, their own profit margins and not enough young and healthy people signing up for plans, insurance companies seek to stem profit losses by hiking rates on people who need access to care, and putting pressure on government regulators to allow it – something we saw in public for the first time during the hearing in July. At last month’s PA Health Access Network (PHAN) Conference in Harrisburg, Insurance Commissioner Teresa Miller foreshadowed the announcement of potentially large increases, lamenting that rates were kept ‘too low’ last year. But if increases of up to 26.7% are still considered too low to prop up big insurers, nearly a million enrolled in the Marketplace face a dastardly trick this fall.

In “Beyond Coverage, Putting People First In Pennsylvania’s Healthcare System”, a recent report based on a survey of people in 46 counties by PPF-PA, 82% of respondents indicated that last year’s premium increases affected their lives, while 37% indicated that the cost of medical care has forced them to skip paying for basic necessities like food and rent within the past 12 months.

As another round of increased insurance premiums impact family budgets, more Pennsylvanians  will be driven out of the marketplace, leading to a vicious cycle of more expensive yet narrower plans. Currently the individual penalty for not buying insurance of $695/yr., or 2.5% of personal income (whichever is higher), is well beyond what most people can afford.

July’s public hearing was a triumph for democracy in Pennsylvania. The Insurance Department responded to the organized power of people, and listened attentively to our struggles with out-of-control insurance costs. We called on the department to represent the interests of the people because proper regulation of insurance companies is necessary to protect our health and human rights. In our survey of PA residents, 9 out of 10 people agreed that the government needs to do more to protect Pennsylvanians’ health.

The people have already said loudly and clearly that insurance companies cannot be allowed to balance their books on our backs. There is no situation in which a company’s bottom line should come before the needs of a cancer patient or a pregnant person. Our lives are at stake – the health of people comes before the health of the bottom line. Put People First looks forward to the release of new insurance rates for 2017. It will be a pivotal moment to understand whether there is a place for democracy in our healthcare system, and if not, what must be done about it.

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