Rep. Treat Coverage of Lobby Activities in DC
Treat lobbies for health-care reform at White House
Capital Weekly, By John Hale
Oct 20, 2009
Rep. Sharon Treat, D-Hallowell, at the Statehouse Oct. 19 following her recent trip to Washington, D.C.
Augusta — Rep. Sharon Treat, D-Hallowell, spent two days recently in Washington, D.C, with 27 other state and municipal leaders to lobby President Obama and members of Congress for health-care reform.
Treat helped organize the trip.
Wednesday, Oct. 14, Treat and other members of the delegation went to the White House to meet with Obama, but instead spent three hours with top staff of the president. The president was tied up in a long meeting developing strategy on the war in Afghanistan.
“We feel we know a lot because our states have expanded health care on our own,” said Treat, who is House chairperson of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee in the Maine Legislature.
“We realize at this point we need the federal government to step in and adjust this on a federal level.”
She said since June a group of 40 legislators from around the country have been talking once a week about Congress’ progress on health care.
One thousand legislators signed a letter to President Obama and congressional leaders urging them to approve a health-care reform plan with a public option. Treat said Maine had the third-highest number of legislators sign the letter.
The letter reads, in part: “Our disjointed health-care system has formed a choke-hold on our economy, limiting job growth and economic development. We cannot fix the economy without fixing health care.”
And the National Conference of State Legislatures endorsed a public option. More than three-quarters of the state legislatures endorsed the plan.
Treat said that during the Oct. 14 meeting, Obama’s staff, including top advisor David Axelrod, “were very confident that something will pass, and something comprehensive.”
“They really wanted to learn from us,” she said.
While in Washington, Treat also met with Congressman Michael Michaud and with the chief of staff for Sen. Olympia Snowe.
“Rep. Michaud is very concerned about the Medicare reimbursement amount. It’s important that we don’t get stuck with a big bill,” Treat said.
“The other message we sent very strongly was that a public option is necessary to make sure that health care works. It was our goal to make sure that the White House doesn’t back down on that.”
Treat said Sen. Snowe backs a trigger mechanism that would set off a public option.
Amendments that have been offered would allow states to opt out of the public option. Other amendments would allow states to opt into a public option.
Treat said there are currently three House bills and two Senate bills on health-care reform.
“They’re merging them into one House bill and one Senate bill. Then they have to merge those two into a single bill in a conference committee. There’s still plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to reach common ground on what a public option might look like,” she said.
Treat said she gave Snowe’s staff “a big thank-you for supporting the Senate Finance Committee bill.”
“That vote kept health-care reform alive,” said Treat. “I urged her [Snowe] to keep an open mind on a public option and to keep working on making sure the plan is affordable.”
Treat said her group included legislators from Guam, Alaska and Puerto Rico who made the long trip to the nation’s capital. She paid her own way to make the trip.
“We have a lot of practical experience trying to do health-care reform. The Dirigo Health program in Maine is seen as a model for national health-care reform,” Treat said. “We want to make sure Congress learns from both our mistakes and our best practices.”
On a personal level, Treat said she had never before been inside the White House.
“It was very exciting to be there,” she said. “It was really substantive. I think they really are listening to us. My bottom line is — Does it work?”
Treat is an attorney and executive director of the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices.
Uninsured Iowans Rise
Number of uninsured Iowans rises this decade
By Charlotte Eby Journal Des Moines Bureau | Posted: Friday, September 11, 2009
DES MOINES — The number of Iowans without health insurance rose at a faster rate this decade than many other parts of the country, a recent analysis of U.S. Census data shows.
A study by the Iowa Fiscal Partnership found that 279,000 Iowans were uninsured in either 2007 or 2008. A total of 9.4 percent of the state’s population had no health insurance during those years.
That is up from the 225,000, or 7.9 percent, of Iowans who were uninsured in 2000-2001.
Christine Ralston, a research associate who analyzed the data, said they expect the percentage of uninsured to be even higher today because the data only covered the first part of the current recession.
“A lot has happened in these last eight months that aren’t reflected in the numbers,” Ralston said.
She said the rise in uninsured Iowans can be attributed in part to the loss of jobs, particularly manufacturing jobs, and to employers cutting back on health insurance benefits.
She said Iowa’s rate of uninsured is relatively low compared to the rest of the nation.
Ralston found no clear-cut reason why Iowa’s rate of uninsured was rising faster than the rest of the country. She said it could be caused by job losses in the manufacturing sector, which often heave health insurance coverage for employees.
The numbers help highlight that federal health care reforms are needed, she said.
“I think this just paints a poignant picture of why something needs to be done at the federal level,” Ralston said.
Sen. Jack Hatch, a Des Moines Democrat, said he is disheartened that the number of uninsured Iowans is growing.
Hatch has led efforts to expand coverage for Iowa children and said the goal is to have every Iowa child insured by the end of 2010.
Hatch said policymakers underestimated the number of uninsured Iowa children. The number of children signed up this last year for state health insurance coverage exceeded estimates by 7,000. The number of Iowa parents who indicated on 2008 tax returns that their children were uninsured also exceeded expectations by about 10,000.
When adults are included in the picture of uninsured, it’s an even bigger problem in Iowa, Hatch said.
“That just shows even more why we need a national health care policy. We cannot do this alone,” Hatch said.
Rep. Coleman’s Note on “The Cost of Doing Nothing”
The Cost of Doing Nothing
The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation released a report today projecting what would happen to the states within ten years if health care reform fails.
This important study exemplifies the failure of the status quo. In workplaces across Texas, because of skyrocketing insurance rates, you don’t get a pay-raise, you simply get to keep your insurance. And the coverage provided to you is not as good as it was previously; the net result being that you pay more to get less.
The failure of reform will hurt Americans’ pocketbooks and will crush state and local budgets. According to the study, the number of uninsured residents will increase if reform is not enacted. Additionally, the number of employers offering coverage will drop, out-of-pockets costs will skyrocket, and spending by states on public programs will drastically increase. These costs will likely be passed along to Texas businesses and taxpayers. Click here to read the full report from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation.
An article in today’s Houston Chronicle, Cost higher if health reform fails, study says, details the report’s Texas specific findings. It found middle-income working families would be hardest hit:
“The study, which estimates how coverage and cost trends would change from now to 2019 if health care isn’t reformed, found out-of-pocket expenses could increase by more than 35 percent in every state. . . . The effects in Texas within 10 years include:
• As many as 8.3 million residents would be uninsured, up from 6 million this year.
• The average resident’s health care spending would increase as much as 81 percent.
• Employers’ premiums would increase as much as 121 percent.
• Medicaid/Children’s Health Insurance Program spending would increase as much as 117 percent.
• Uncompensated care would increase by as much as 138 percent.”
Our families, businesses, and state and local governments cannot afford the status quo.
Update on Legislation
Yesterday, the Senate Finance committee took up a series of amendments to their version of the health care plan. Senators Jay Rockefeller and Chuck Schumer offered amendments to the bill that would have created a public option, and both were voted down. Senator Schumer noted during the debate that this was but one step in the legislative process, as the four other versions of the bill (one in the Senate and three in the House) all contain a version of the public option. Click here to read a summary from the Washington Post on yesterday’s debate.
As the legislation makes it’s way through the process, I will continue to update you on it’s status.
Delegate Manno Interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3Vtl_4sCZo
If you have trouble with the link, please go to You Tube and search “Maryland State Delegate Roger Manno’s Interview on Health Care Reform”.
