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Advocacy & Policy
 Protecting
and Expanding Medicaid
Reducing
Racial & Ethnic Disparities in Health Care
Making
Prescription Drugs More Affordable
Immigrant Health Care Access
Hospital
Free Care/Financial Assistance
Medicaid:
People with Disabilities and the Aged
For
Profit Hospitals
National
& State Efforts to Promote Action on Universal Health Care
Insurance
Medicare
Coalition
for Affordable Healthcare in Ohio
Info
on the Uninsured
Faith
and Health Care
Protecting and Expanding
Medicaid
Ohio Medicaid provides health benefits to nearly 2 million Ohioans,
including: 1 million children,490,000 non-disabled parents, 265,000 disabled
adults and children, and 152,000 seniors.(sfy 2005 figures)
UHCAN Ohio is building state and local coalitions to oppose cuts in Medicaid
eligibility and benefits, including the proposed rollback of coverage for
low-income working parents. UHCAN Ohio believes that the legislature needs to
increase state revenues, instead of cutting the human services safety net.
NEW:
How
to Survive the Cutback in Parents Medicaid Coverage
What Parents and Medicaid Advocates Should Know About Keeping Coverage
Medicaid
MattersEndorse
Statewide Coalition
Preserving
health care for working parents
Why
Cutting Medicaid for Families is a Bad Idea
Ohio
Family Coverage Coalition Fact Sheet on Maternal Depression and Child
Development
Health
Insurance is a Family Matter: Excerpt from Institute of Medicine Report
Medicaid
spending is good medicine for Ohio
Health
Effects of Being Uninsured
New
report on the economic impacts of cutting Medicaid: See "County Level Analysis
of the Effects of Medicaid Cutbacks in Ohio," at
http://www.ppm.ohio-state.edu/ppm/ohiomedicaidcuts03.pdf
UHCAN Ohio reminds everyone: Without a
fair, progressive tax structure that creates sufficient revenues to provide
for human needs, we will not be able to provide affordable health care for
all, either through a publicly funded system or a blend of private and
public insurance.
Making
Prescription Drugs More Affordable
Prescription drugs are often essential to achieving and maintaining health. But
drug prices are the fastest growing part of health care costs. Several national
projects are working on strategies to expand access to the right prescription
drugs:
The Prescription Project
www.prescriptionproject.org is working to
eliminate conflicts of interest created by industry marketing by promoting
policy change in academic medical centers, public and private payers, and
medical societies. They seek to reduce the influence of drug industry marketing
on physician prescribing practices and promote an approach to prescribing drugs
based on the best scientific evidence, instead of industry marketing. This is a
project of Community Catalyst and the Institute of Medicine as a Profession.
The National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices (www.reducedrugprices.org)
works to reduce drug prices and increase access to prescription medications.
Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs (www.crbestbuydrugs.org),
a project of Consumer Reports, provides free guidance to consumers and
physicians on buying prescription drugs based on effectiveness, a drug's track
record, safety and price. Consumer Reports is a private, independent, nonprofit,
non-partisan organization empowering consumers.
UHCAN Ohio is a member of the Prescription Access Litigation Project, working to make prescription drugs more affordable
by class action litigation and public education.
www.prescriptionaccess.org Read
an interview with Marcia Angell, former editor of New England Journal of
Medicine, on myths and facts about the pharmaceutical industry:
"Pal
News: Telling the Truth About the Drug Companies"
Info on the
Uninsured
New
Report on the Uninsured
Faith & Health Care
UHCAN (the national organization, not formally linked to
UHCAN Ohio) has a Faith Project, with a wealth of resources on faith and health
care. www.uhcan.org/faith
New organization, Faith in Public Life, is a great
resource center on social justice issues:
www.faithinpubliclife.org
Immigrant
Health Care Access
Health
Coverage for Uninsured Immigrants
Dispelling
the fear of Public Charge: Immigrants may receive health care services
without hurting their citizenship or immigrant applications
California
Immigrant Policy Center: A very helpful website
for reliable information on immigrants' use of health care, contributions to the
economy, and other information for combating myths about immigrants and US
health care:
Immigrants
and the U.S. Health Care System:RESEARCH-BASED FACTS ON IMMIGRANTS' USE OF
HEALTH CARE SERVICES
(prepared by CIPC, the California Immigrant Policy Center)
Immigration restrictionists in the U.S. often accuse immigrants of using health
care services for which they are not eligible or of using them more than
everyone else. Generally, however, such accusations are unsubstantiated and
based on uninformed assumptions. This newly reformatted issue brief provides
research-based information about immigrants' use of health care services.
Language Access
Recommendations
for Hospital Interpreter Services Programs
Ethical
and Practice Standards for Medical Interpreters in Central Ohio
Immigrant Health Outreach
Abrete
Sesamo
"Abrete Sesamo," or "Open Sesame:
The goal of the ¡Abrete Sésamo! (“Open, Sesame!”) Project is to increase
awareness among Franklin County Latinos about local health services and to equip
this population with tools that will diminish their barriers to obtaining those
services. The project is training leaders from within the Latino community as
Lay Health Advisors (LHA), who organize workshops and to serve as ongoing health
referral sources within their communities. The project conducts workshops to
teach immigrant Latinos how to seek, utilize, and pay for appropriate health
care services and a newsletter.
(click here for current
newsletter)
Hospital
Free Care/Financial Assistance
Free
Health Care at Hospitals in Columbus
Cleveland Free Care Report
October 2003
Columbus
Free Care Report
+ Appendices C & D
(final) July
2001
Cleveland
Free Care Report
+ Appendices February
2001
Columbus
Free Care Report December
2000
For
more resources, go to Resources/Publications
Insurance
Health Care Exchange: Governor Strickland has
proposed creation of the “Health Care Exchange,” a form of “connector” to link
people with insurance. According to a study by Community Catalyst, connectors
only work for most people if certain rules exist in the state’s insurance laws
and the connector incorporates certain elements. Click here to view report
http://www.communitycatalyst.org/press_room?id=0031
Ohio’s Mental Health Parity Law: FAQ
Click here to view the FAQ
Health Savings Accounts, included in
the new Medicare Drug Law, offer high-deductible insurance with a tax shelter.
Opponents argue that such accounts will draw healthier and wealthier people away
from regular insurance, driving up premiums for everyone else. For more: www.familiesusa.org;
www.cbpp.org.
Testimony on HB 506, which would require public employers to offer
Health Savings Accounts to their employees, presented by Marianne Steger,
Director of Health Care and Public Policy, AFSCME Ohio Council 8. This is a
great summary of the pitfalls of HSAs.
../HB 506 Steger Testimony.htm
Tax Credits: For a good analysis, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, www.cbpp.org.
Medical Malpractice: What's the Real
Story?
Consumers'
message to physicians on medical malpractice crisis: target the insurance
industry, not injury victims
Medical
Malpractice
Testimony
Submitted to the Senate Health, Human Services and Aging Committee
Association
Health Plans
Medicaid:
People with Disabilities and the Aged
People who are disabled may become eligible for Medicaid if they meet Medicaid financial eligibility guidelines. for resources and income.
An individual can have no more than $1500 in "available" resources (some resources, like your home, don't count).
An individual must have "countable" income below the Medicaid "need
standard," which is $479/month in 2003. Not all income is counted. If an individual has a Spend-Down, they must meet Spend-down to get a
medical card, by "incurring" medical expenses.
A new rule makes Spend-Down more user-friendly. The new rule and more information can be found at the website of Legal Aid of Cincinnati:
www.lasclev.org/Medicaid/spenddown.htm
For Profit
Hospitals
UHCAN
Ohio Mounts Opposition to For Profit Hospitals
Medicare
The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit goes
into effect in January 2005. This is an extremely complicated program. All
people on Medicare need to understand their options - and the consequences
of doing nothing. That's why UHCAN Ohio is part of the Ohio ABC Coalition
and is doing trainings around central and southern Ohio.
For people eligible for the Low Income Subsidy,
or "Extra Help" will save from 85% to 100% of their drug expenses. For
others, the program will involve a monthly premium, deductible, and the
famous "doughnut hole," during which you receive no subsidy on help on drug
expenses.
Resources:
To understand the Low Income Subsidy,
click here to read a
piece from Pro Seniors, in Cincinnati.
For information or help enrolling on line, contact the Ohio ABC Coalition,
at 1-800-648-1176
Call
UHCAN Ohio, (614) 456-0060.
UHCAN Ohio Fact Sheet on new Medicare Law,
12-04
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