White House to hold healthcare forums across U.S.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Mar 13, 2009

I certainly would NOT call them conservative! Why Not Texas, Mississippi or North Dakota? Me thinks they don't want to hear from EVERYONE. Well picked for preaching to the chior

As a North Carolinian, I would say that this is a very conservative state. We went blue by about 13000 in this GE. Hardly a blowout, and the bigger counties tilted it in favor of the Dems. Our infant mortality rate sucks, our # of un/underinsured sucks, and our teen pregnancy rate does too. NC was red for a long long time and in many areas, still is.

loricatus · Mar 13, 2009

Although it is a nice start going regional, I think he should organize specialty groups from across the country to have input. Imagine the insight that could be gained by groups of nurses, doctors, insurance professionals, hospital management, ems workers/paramedics, aides, pharmacists, educators in health related fields, etc. These symposiums could provide valuable insight from multiple perspectives. Have to start by indentifying all the problems before trying to find equitable solutions.

MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN · Mar 13, 2009

This is the letter I sent through the Whitehouse email system. According to that email system President Obama has pledged to hear from his constituents. So, let him hear from us en masse. Go for it! The very worst thing that can occur is no response, in which case if no changes are made in the administration we know we go elsewhere in 4 years!

M

Dear President Obama,

Healthcare is a subject that is often debated, however in NJ healthcare has become a catch phrase for hospital failure and a public whose lack of services is increasingly becoming ill. As an ER nurse I am extremely concerned with the amount of people accessing the ER for primary care, including families with children. Additionally, public funded entities such as Medicare and Medicaid do not give those who hold those cards any guarantee of primary care as physicians are not required to see any portion or percentage of those patients.

While Americans argue about the need for healthcare reform, patients and their families are bearing the brunt of this reform. Home health is limited and inaccessible, and many Americans are unable to afford the medications and healthy foods that would make a difference in their lives and their health.

Furthermore, nurses are very concerned with the business of healthcare overshadowing the need for proper staffing ratios to ensure the best in patient care. Like Wall Street CEOs, hospitals and their systems have extremely high paid players, yet are cutting staffing throughout the hospitals. It is dangerous and selfish to the patients and to those of us who have the patient's health in our hands. Also, as nurses who have worked very hard for our licenses; the fear of errors without malice due to unrealistic hospital expectations and patient loads is a very scary reality we live with daily.

Reuters reported that you will be having healthcare forums in some states, why not NJ? It also made mention that doctors and citizens would be called upon for their input. Why not the nurses who are responsible for the health of every patient that steps into any healthcare system? Why not Advance Practice Nurses who provide primary care? Most physicians are not in favor of any system of nationalized healthcare. Nurses who "see" and "live" with the end of result of private healthcare supported you and your election to this country's Presidency.

With the sad passing of your grandmother you remarked on the good quality of the nursing care; I am sure the physicians were also very available during her stay! As I am sure you are aware, the President of the United States and his family will only have the best of the best! However, the reality for most Americans is that as a family you would have seen the physicians briefly, and the nursing care would've been based on the amount of patients given to the nurse in that particular assignment. Nursing care could be great and attentive, or very limited in its scope. Please understand there are over 500,000 licensed nurses who have left the bedside due to poor working conditions and abuse-we don't need new schools, or imported personnel to fill the slots. In NJ there are no slots for the myriad of new graduates and hospitals are laying off personnel. As healthcare providers we are the last bastion of safety between the patient and medical and medicine errors. We note all changes in the patient's condition, provide planning, education and intervention and hopefully discharge our patients to a "livable productive life."

In closing, my hope that Nurses will be a major part of the healthcare professionals accessed during your meetings with the public and given equal time to the physicians. Not academics, but nurses who work and breath the human condition and can share honestly without prejudice how it really is for those without, those who have lost, and those who need intervention. The physicians can't, and those citizens in need have no idea how much danger they face. Unfortunately we do.

Yours Truly,

M

RN4MERCY · Mar 13, 2009

washington (reuters) - president [color=#005a84]barack obama's administration will organize healthcare forums across the united states in the coming weeks to involve americans and local policy makers in a push for reform, the white house said on friday.
obama vowed on thursday to break the political stalemate that has blocked past efforts and pass a comprehensive plan to cut healthcare costs and expand insurance coverage this year.
the regional meetings, which will take place in california, iowa, michigan, north carolina and vermont in march and early april, are meant to gather ideas from local communities about how to fix the system....
http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idustre51o7sp20090306

thanks for this post, herring_rn. we know how to fix the system and we have to keep repeating the single payer solution. we don't need more defective insurance products; we need health care, with access to it guaranteed by a single payer national health plan. i believe president obama already knows this too and "we the people" just need to make our voices known and force him to be the leader we elected him to be on this issue. big insurance and big phrma have made a lot of money at the expense of sick people and they're using it against us to try and drown out our voice for real reform.

i plan to attend april 6th in los angeles along with thousands of other grassroots advocates. our communities are hurting and our patients are suffering. single payer should be front and center as the golden standard by which all other options are compared. the results of a convincing new study by the institute for health and socio-economic policy shows that we can have universal coverage for all and stimulate economic growth by implementing a single payer, "medicare for all" system of health care in this country.

bloomberg.commarch 11, 2009no reason to demonize u.s. single-payer healthcommentary by john f. wasik
it's time to stop kicking sand in the face of single-payer health care. it may be the strongest solution around to insure every american at a lower cost.
after decades of industry campaigns against this model -- dubbed by its critics as "socialized" medicine -- it's important to stop whining and evaluate the many economic benefits. health care is a fundamental human right.
if president barack obama wants real change in american health care, he will have to get over the fear of even mentioning single-payer concepts. at his health-care summit last week, only the threat of a demonstration garnered late invitations for oliver fein and congressman john conyers, two leading proponents of the single-payer plan.
health-care costs have become a crippling personal-finance burden for 45 million uninsured and 25 million underinsured americans. those outside of the fractured employer-based system are only one illness away from financial ruin.
lose your job and most likely your health coverage will disappear unless you want to pay exorbitant rates. and it's getting worse. because of the growing jobless rate, some 14,000 americans are losing their coverage daily, according to the center for american progress action fund.
a single-payer plan would cover everybody regardless of employment situation and save money by cutting out middlemen.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_wasik&sid=ao58otxrmrpm

allnurses Guide · Mar 13, 2009

attendees at white house forum voice health care reform ideas

...conyers, who has introduced single-payer legislation, h.r. 676, said improving access to care is complex, "but not as hard as people may think."

dingell, who said his father introduced the nation's first health care reform plan in 1948, said "health care is a right, not a privilege."

dr. jim michner, an emergency physician from clawson who supports a single-payer system, said health care insurance should not be linked to a job that can be lost or taken away.

"i see people every day who have lost their job and have no insurance. it makes no sense. you lose a job and they don't take away your life or auto insurance policy," michner said. "i have lost complete faith in the private insurance industry."...

...nurses should be at the table when the health care reform legislation is drafted, said teresa cervantez thompson, dean of nursing and health at madonna university in livonia....

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20090312/free/903129971