Dede Feldman
I’ll be heading to Washington this week, along with legislators from other states who have been designated to lobby the Senate on behalf of the White House Working Group of State Legislators for Health Care Reform. The other legislators include Sen. Karen Keiser of Washington, Rep. Sharon Treat of Maine and Rep. Krysten Sinema of Arizona.
The visit comes as Democratic senators, unable to muster 60 votes for a pubic option, are considering alternatives, including a private national plan administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) — which administers the congressional health plan — and a buy-in to the Medicare program for people aged 55-64.
Our group had earlier gathered signatures of 1,000 state legislators to support a robust public option, and during the summer and fall we have been holding town halls and other events to support reform.
Many of us are chairs of health committees and are involved in Medicaid or our own “public option” programs like the state coverage insurance (SCI) program here. We’re focused on how these reforms are going to be implemented – since it’s the states that will be catching the ball from Washington.
We’ll be meeting with the White House staff and visiting with senators and their staffs, including that of Sen. Bingaman and Sen. Udall.
I’m going to be stressing the urgency of “bridge” funding to carry our Medicaid and SCI programs forward until the full reforms kick in. Due to our current budget crisis, we’re on the verge of ending SCI and “restructuring” Medicaid, which means cuts in benefits, more co-pays, fewer programs and lower reimbursements for providers. Other states are doing the same thing.
As far as alternatives to the public option go, I hope they can save as much money — $25 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office — as the public option, as well as increase competition and keep insurance companies premiums down. Most important, these policies must be affordable, which means that middle-income people must have adequate subsidies to purchase them.
The questions we’re going to be asking are whether these alternatives will really be national in scope, simple, portable and not just a costly, high-risk pool for those who can’t get coverage elsewhere.
For more information call me on my cell at 505-220-5958 or e-mail me at dedefeld@comcast.net.
Feldman, a Democratic state senator from Albuquerque, chairs the Senate Public Affairs Committee.