Justice and Advocacy Resource Links

Health Care

Health Care – Public Policy

• Lehigh County Conference of Churches — Justice and Advocacy
  Health Care Statement

Pennsylvania Organizations (Health Care)

• LCCC Talking Points on Health Care (MSWord)
• Lutheran Advocacy Ministry of Pennsylvania (LAMP)
  www.lamp.org
  Issue Brief on Access to Health Care
• Pennsylvania Health Access Network
  www.pahealthaccess.org
• Pennsylvanians United for Affordable Health Care
  www.insurepanow.org
  advocates expanded health care insurance coverage in Pennsylvania
  (supported by a number of Pennsylvania employee unions)
• Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform
  www.ohcr.state.pa.us
  Governor’s “Prescription for Pennsylvania”
  www.rxforpa.com

Pennsylvania Health Care Legislation

Health Care bills were introduced in the Pennsylvania Legislature this summer:
House bill HB1660 was introduced on July 14, 2009. Senate bill SB400 was introduced on July 17, 2009. Both provide for comprehensive single payer health care coverage for all citizens of Pennsylvania.
See www.healthcare4allpa.org/legis.htm for an overview of this legislation.

Pennsylvania Council of Churches –
    Recommended Links on Health Care

• Council’s Health & Health Care Policy Position Statement
  www.pachurches.org/What/Advocacy/Policies/Policies.htm;
  (scroll down and click on “Health”)
• Health Care for All PA: www.healthcare4allpa.org
• Faithful Reform in Health Care:
  www.faithfulreform.org
• American Medical Student Association Universal Health Care Initiative:
  www.amsa.org/uhc
• Physicians for a National Health Care Program: www.pnhp.org
• The Case for Single Payer, Universal Health Care for the United States:
  cthealth.server101.com/….
• Connecticut Coalition for Universal Health Care
  [cthealth.server101.com],
  Outline of Talk Given To The Association of State Green Parties, Moodus, Connecticut on June 4, 1999,
  by John R. Battista, M.D. and Justine McCabe, Ph.D. Somewhat dated, but useful.
• Everybody In, Nobody Out:
  www.everybodyinnobodyout.org.
  Project EINO educates the public, encouraging state movement towards an equitable health care system
  guaranteeing universal access to care, to be accomplished by support of grassroots organizing and empowerment
  of those communities most at-risk in the current health care system.
• Healthcare Now!: www.healthcare-now.org. Healthcare Now
  is a grassroots network educating the U.S. people about the national healthcare crisis and challenging the
  for-profit medical industrial complex that consumes so much of our healthcare dollar. The group organizes for
  a national single-payer healthcare system that will cover everybody with excellent healthcare and cost less money.
• People Count: Listening to Voices about Healthcare:
  www.afsc.org/pittsburgh/health-report.pdf.
  A Western Pennsylvania Listening Project on Healthcare (May 2005) prepared by the American Friends Service
  Committee, Pittsburgh

National Organizations (Health Care)

• Healthcare Now
  www.healthcare-now.org
  Advocacy for single-payer U.S. healthcare system. Works with many organizations,
  including major church denominations.
• UHCAN Universal Health Care Action Network
  www.uhcan.org
  Coalition of many national organizations, with resources for state and national public policy advocacy.
• Mennonite Central Committee, Washington Office
  • Resources on Health Care and the 2009 public policy debate.
• United Church of Christ
  • Health Care Justice
    www.ucc.org/justice/health/health-care-facts.html
  • Resolution Reaffirming Universal Health Care
    www.ucc.org/justice/health/resolution-reaffirming.html
• United Methodist Church
  • Protect Children’s Health
    www.umc-gbcs.org/site/c.frLJK2PKLqF/b.2798473/
  • Health Care
    www.umc-gbcs.org/site/c.frLJK2PKLqF/b.3794227/apps/s/content.asp?ct=3956183
• Presbyterian Church USA
  • National Health Ministries
    www.pcusa.org/nationalhealth/
  • International Health Ministries
    www.pcusa.org/health/international/
  • Health, Education, and Welfare
    www.pcusa.org/phewa/
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
  • Advocacy Resources
    www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Justice/Advocacy.aspx
  • Health and Healthcare
    www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Justice/Advocacy.aspx
• United Church of Canada
  • Health Care Policy
    www.united-church.ca/beliefs/policies/1994/h211
  • Future of Health Care
    www.united-church.ca/health/healthcare_brief
  • Health Care Policy Positions
    www.united-church.ca/beliefs/policies/healthcare
• “SiCKO”: Michael Moore’s blog on U.S. Health Care issues.
• Children’s Defense Fund: CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program)
  www.childrensdefense.org
• Families USA: Health Care policy and consumer issues
  www.familiesusa.org
• PBS FRONTLINE Sick Around the World
  Explores health care systems in Britain, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland — compared with the U.S.
• PSB Bill Moyers Journal Discussion on U.S. Health Care Reform (May 22, 2009)
  with Dr. David Himmelstein and Dr. Sidney Wolfe. Looks at the politics of heath care reform in the U.S.
• PSB Bill Moyers Journal National Debate on U.S. Health Care Reform (July 10, 2009)
  with Wendell Potter, who resigned from an executive position in the health care insurance industry. Includes testimony at Congressional hearings (late June, 2009).
• PBS – Money, Politics and Health (July 10, 2009)
  Links to other resources on the health care debate, including an annotated list of lobbyists and dollars spent.

Public Policy Debate   2009-2010

Current Legislation – U.S. Congress
Washington and Lee University law professor Tim Jost has provided a good overview of the House, Senate, and revised Senate health reform bills (Dec. 2009). As of January 2010, this legislation is in House-Senate Conference Committee.

• the House Bill (HR 3962)
• the Senate Bill, Part 1
• the Senate Bill, Part 2

Senate Hearings (June 2009) on the Affordable Health Choices Act [pdf] —
in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

• Congress Readies to Debate Details of Health Reform
  Commentary from the Coalition on Human Needs.

President Barack Obama’s health care plan details (pdf – Sept. 2009).

President Barack Obama’s speech to the American Medical Association (June 15, 2009), outlining the Administration’s proposal for health care reform.

Response to the President’s proposal for a “Health Insurance Exchange”

• Explaining Health Care Reform: What are Health Insurance Exchanges?
  – by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
  Various health reform proposals being discussed suggest developing an ‘exchange’ or a market-place where uninsured individuals will be able to purchase coverage. This brief explains the purpose, function, and limitations of health insurance exchanges.
• Rules of the Road: How an Insurance Exchange Can Pool Risk and Protect Enrollees
  – by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
  This report discusses features that should be included in a health insurance exchange so that it provides individuals with coverage options that are affordable, comprehensive and easy to compare.

Other commentary on Health Care reform

• The Coalition on Human Needs, which includes many national church agencies
  as member organizations, has links to several recent documents on health care reform.
  (CHN also tracks many other issues.)
• The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has
  an number of papers that deal with Health Care Reform.

Other Resources

• Mennonite Peace & Justice Committee (Pennsylvania)
  • efpjc.ppjr.org
    Health Care in Pennsylvania & U.S. / public policy and current legislation
  • www.easterndistrict.org
    Newsletter (Oct. 2008) with summary of healthcare issues and options in Pennsylvania [PDF]
• Coalition on Human Needs
  — Mental Health
  www.chn.org/humanneeds/
  Mental Health Parity legislation