AARP Ohio Raises Consumers’ Voice in Health Care Debate
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2008-01-15 14:43:33.086314-05:00
As part of its push for better access to affordable, high-quality healthcare services, AARP Ohio is among leading organizations that have banded together to advocate on behalf of consumers as health care reform is debated at the statehouse.
AARP Ohio is among the conveners of Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage, a statewide coalition that will focus on average citizens' needs and wants as the governor, state legislators and stakeholders continue to debate plans to expand access to health care and to rein in the costs.
"We will evaluate proposals that policy makers put forward with an eye toward their impact on consumers," said Ron Bridges, an AARP Ohio associate state director for advocacy. "Coverage should be available to all, continuous, and affordable to individuals and families, and sustainable for society."
Nationwide, 46 million Americans lack health insurance, including more than 1.3 million Ohioans, most of them adults working in low-wage jobs. Some 143,000 Ohio children are covered by the state Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and the state legislature last year voted cover an additional 20,000 by expanding coverage to children in families earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level ($51,510 for a family of three). Just before Christmas, however, the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) blocked that plan. The state now will apply to add about 10,671 children by expanding SCHIP coverage to 250% of poverty, the highest rate CMS as approved to date.
"Most Ohioans want to fix health care, so we ought to be able to come up with solutions that provide every family with affordable, adequate coverage, with no penalties for pre-existing conditions," according to Cathy Levine, executive director of Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio (UHCAN), who organized the coalition.
Among the growing number of Ohio Consumers for Healthcare Coverage coalition members AARP Ohio is working together with to identify reforms that will guarantee access to affordable, adequate coverage for everyone, are: American Cancer Society (Ohio Division), Legal Aid of Southwest Ohio, Toledo Area Jobs with Justice, Ohio Council of Churches, National Alliance for Mental Illness (Ohio), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Organize!Ohio, Ohio ACORN, Universal Health Care Action Network Ohio, WeBelieveOhio, Ohio Cerebral Palsy Association, Faith Ministerial Alliance.
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