Are you concerned about US health care and how it operates? Do you want to help the LWV strengthen its position on this important issue? Here is an opportunity to join league members throughout the US to take action. LWV members work at the local, state, and national levels on various matters that the league considers important. From their study, they write and adopt Position Papers that other leagues may use to bolster their support or opposition to various legislative and election initiatives (not candidates). Read on and see how you can take direct action on Health Care reform.
HCR4US Toolkit: https://lwvhealthcarereform.org/#latest-newsletter.
(From that page, you will also find a link to all past newsletters.)
This month, the ink is barely dry on LWV of Vermont’s new state position against PRIVATIZATION in Health Care, adopted at a special convention December 14. Already we see Leagues in other states who might be eager to have their states adopt the position by concurrence. My home state MA, for example, already has a bill in the House to force greater transparency in nursing home ownership to slow private equity (PE) raids on our medical assets. CA, OR, and NY legislatures go one better: they have bills to *regulate* mergers and other transactions involving private equity which will let the states challenge such deals and also make them harder to pull off with PE’s customary secrecy.
Of course, we’d love to have LWVUS join in advocacy against these predatory forms of private ownership, but that might be a heavier lift than we can manage for this year. Still, if we could get delegates at the convention to adopt an update to the current LWVUS privatization position–based on Vermont’s–that one action would make it available to all the states to use within their state and local governments. So, look in the newsletter for news on the whys and hows of LWVVT’s study for a new position. Then it will be a little “deja vu all over again,” as health care advocates gear up for a grassroots campaign to help bring Vermont’s topic to the LWVUS Program Planning process (in January and February, for the June convention).In the newsletter, we also report on our continuing work on the intersection of Health Care with other issues, this month Climate, and also more news (and reflection) about AI.
HCR4US is a nationwide effort among LWV chapters at the state and local levels to promote a national LWV Position Paper on health care reform.
submitted by–Barbara Pearson (MA), Candy Birch (FL & KS), Jon Li (CA), MaryLynne Courtney (WA), with guest contributors Betty Keller (VT) and Judy Esterquest (WA).