The Health Care Policy (HCP) group in the NRW chapter of Democrats Abroad met for the second time in Cologne on June 18, 2008. Five voters and three pre-voters (2012, 2017 and 2025) explored a wide range of health care issues among them:
• Health care coverage for college students
• Maternal-infant health
• Caring for aging parents when there is an ocean between you
• Catastrophic illness coverage
• Coverage for retired military living in the US and abroad
• Single payer vs. profit-making insurance companies

There were contributions from some of our "virtual members including Gerald Moss (in Germany) who sent a huge amount of information on the health care concerns of retired military and Franz Anthoefer who called us (from West Virginia!) to discuss caring for aging parents who have no US health care coverage. Ole Tangen, came wearing two hats - as an American abroad concerned with this issue and as a reporter writing about it for The Atlantic Times/The German Times - Watch http://www.atlantic-times.com and http://www.german-times.com for his article.

We see the HCP group as a long-term project extending well into the second term of the next president. Considering the broad range of issues involved in putting together a US health care system that works for everybody we need to parcel out the pieces to people who are especially interested in one aspect or another. Maternal-infant care is both my profession and my passion so I'd like to coordinate that but would welcome contributions from other people who are concerned that, for instance, the US - which spends more per capita on health care costs [including the profits for the insurance industry] ranks 33rd in the world on infant mortality [6.3 per 1000]. John McCain supported the Administration's vetoing of expanding Medicaid coverage to include more of the children and mothers at risk

We need other people to coordinate other areas - health care for retired military, for instance. This is a growing concern because it involves not just "normal" retirees but also serving soldiers or those who have had to leave the military because of injuries or PTSD. The current administration has an abysmal record of caring for the thousands of people it has put in harm's way since 2001. Gerald Moss is happy to support the efforts of the coordinator for this.

And what about caring for our elderly? I was a young mother in the mid-60's, when Medicare was introduced and it really has been one of the most successful entitlement programs, comprehensive and pretty well managed, ensuring that most seniors have reasonably good health care coverage. But tinkering with it has made it less good than it was - or could be. Thanks to intense lobbying by the pharmaceutical industry and the über-business-friendly Bush Administration, "the 2003 Medicare law explicitly prohibits the federal government from negotiating drug prices or establishing a list of preferred drugs." (NY Times, Nov. 13, 2006). Does it matter? Ask my 92 year aunt - or your own (grand-) parents. Senator McCain is planning to scale back drug (and other) benefits and continue the privatization of Medicare. This is definitely a hot button issue. Many of my cousins who, like the writer, are not getting any younger and (unlike the writer) have been lifelong Republicans are rethinking their political allegiances in the light of disappearing or unaffordable health care coverage. And what happens if parents of US citizens - living in another country - need care? How do you manage if there is an ocean between you - and what if you want to bring your aging parents to the US - and they have no health insurance? Franz Anthoefer can tell you all about that. This issue also needs a coordinator.

Insurance for all? College students, the self-employed, those with prior conditions or chronic or catastrophic illnesses - these are the uninsured or the underinsured in the US. The Commonwealth Fund [www.commonwealthfund.org] tells us that 75 million adults fall into one of these two categories. John McCain wants to scrap employer-based insurance, potentially sending more than 150 million Americans scrambling for coverage on the open market. So what can you get on the open market? Ask my sister - mother of six without any history of serious illness of her own or of the children. The "affordable" insurance they have has a $3000 deductible twice a year so they are, in effect, paying for catastrophic coverage. All the routine medical expenses come out of pocket. Senator McCain - like all Members of Congress - has (lifetime) coverage through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHB). He pays about 28% of the premium (about $100 a month). The taxpayers pick up the rest (we also pay about a third of his life insurance premiums and fully finance his $58,358 a year disability pension). So how about extending this coverage to Americans who don't have a net worth of $40 million? For a summary of McCain's views on coverage for the man [woman or child] on the street see: http://www.democrats.org/a/200... for an overview

How to pay for adequate health care is a contentious issue. Most of those at the meeting thought that a single payer plan like Canada's would make sense. Have a look at http://www.gp.org/press/states.... We could learn a lot from this document put out by the Green Party. We could use a coordinator on financing health care reform.

These are only a handful of concerns about health care (coverage) in the US. Many of you will have other concerns that have not been mentioned. Please let us know about them - and offer to coordinate an area that is of special interest to you. We need virtual as well as in-person members for this working group.

Thanks to Erik, Ole, Carin and Alexandra who came to the meeting in person and to Gerald and Franz who contributed by email and phone. We look forward to working on these issues for a long while to come.

Elizabeth Hormann

June 23, 2008