VIA Holds Press Conference and Congressional Call-In on Health Care Reform

September 21, 2009

See the Burlington Free Press article here

Local religious leaders, congregants, and community members gathered at the First Unitarian Universalist Society in Burlington to call on Vermont’s Congressional delegation to return to Washington after the August recess with renewed determination to pass meaningful health care reform legislation.

Vermont Interfaith Action (VIA), also dispatched key leaders to our nation’s capital for a two-day “full court press” on Congress, as part of a national PICO (People Improving Communities through Organizing) effort to increase pressure for meaningful healthcare reform.

The morning press conference featured remarks from:

•    Rev. Debbie Ingram, Executive Director, Vermont Interfaith Action
•    Rev. Gary Kowalski, First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington
•    Rev. Mike Brown, Christ Church, Presbyterian, Burlington
•    Rabbi Joshua Chasan, Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, Burlington
•    Rev. Mara Dowdall, Montpelier Unitarian Universalist Society
•    Rev. Beth Ann Maier, Deacon, Church of the Good Shepherd, Barre
•    Ms. Kathy Bonilla, President of VIA Board, Member of First Unitarian Universalist Society, Burlington
•    Ms. Susan Reid, Member of Christ Episcopal Church, Montpelier

Rev. Kowalski

"Am I my brother's keeper?" is a question as old as the Bible, and the answer, at least in Jewish and Christian tradition, is clear that we do have obligations to each other. We are not simply consumers or competitors in an economic marketplace, but neighbors and companions in a network of mutual aid.

Some call healthcare a human right. But I'd prefer to say it's a public responsibility, like education or funding the local fire department. Civilized societies provide these services for the common good. If your house is hit by lightning, the emergency responders come to the rescue with sirens blaring to put out the blaze. No one stops to ask if your home is covered by insurance. No one inquires how you intend to pay for the water before the hose gets connected to the hydrant.

And I'm not sure why healthcare should be so very different. Yet that's the way it's been seen in our country. If you're hit by a bus instead of your house getting hit by lightning, then that's your personal problem, and not our collective concern. The ambulance may still come, with sirens blaring, but the private aid car of course has to bill you, and if you can't pay the invoice, you're liable to wind up broke. For as you know, medical emergencies are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States. the only country in the developed world where losing your health means you may also lost your shirt.

You read the horror stories in the New York Times, hear them reported on Frontline, about the hardworking families who've always carried insurance but whose son develops leukemia at age twenty-one, just before graduating from college, and gets kicked off the family policy, whose treatments now cost thousands of dollars a month. I talked with one family in our own congregation here who had accident insurance but no real medical coverage. The wife told her husband that if he cut himself on a power saw, just keep going, because their policy was only good for dismemberment!

That's disturbing.  Yet when we're sick and unable to pay, or burdened with ever rising insurance premiums, we're liable to see these varied frustrations as separate symptoms, expressions of our own individual ailments, of getting old or being disabled or have special needs, rather than as connected dots that point to an underlying social malady.

For the reality is that the whole system is sick. That's why the World Health Organization ranks the United States as 37th in overall performance, trailing Chile, playing catch up with Morocco, all while spending more per capita for medical care than any other nation on earth.

Who benefits from this arrangement? Not sick people. Not the 47 million Americans without insurance. Not folks who might like to retire or switch careers but can't make a move because they're afraid of losing coverage. Corporations, on the other hand, are doing rather well. Biotech, big pharma, insurance companies and the for-profit hospital industry are all prospering, even in this recession. And I worry about the future of healthcare reform, the conversation that President Obama has started, so long as the profit motive remains primary, so long as we have to pay tribute to mammon above all other gods and worship money above all other social goods.

We need to restore our sense that the relationship between healer and patient is a not simply a commercial arrangement or business transaction but also a sacred trust. We need to remember that how well we care for the ill, the infirm, the most vulnerable among us is the best measure of our civic character. We need a shift in fundamental values, to affirm that the bottom line isn't just measured by accountants.

It's measured by how we care for our neighbors, our elderly, our children, and the working poor. Today we of VIA call upon Vermont's congressional delegation to make sure that any proposed health care bill passes the moral audit.

Rev. Brown

It is fitting that we are sharing these remarks today from one of Vermont Interfaith Action’s houses of worship.  In the past we have held press conferences on the political territory of the Statehouse, but it is all the more relevant that we speak today grounded, as it were, by the moral and ethical foundation of the shared values of our communities of faith.  The matter of health care reform can be looked at from lots of angles, and it can be argued that there are several “bottom lines” to be considered, but it is clear to those of us involved in Vermont Interfaith Action that the most compelling bottom line of all is the one that is made up of the lives of our neighbors.

The current shouting match—referred to these days as a “debate”—is of course not much of a debate or even in many cases a civil conversation, and the misinformation, gross exaggeration, and personal attack have reached appalling levels, as a glance at any newspaper will show.  But the intensity and the furor of these arguments do tell us one thing, and that is that health care reform is a genuine “hot button” issue.  In one sense it should be a hot button issue because the travesty of the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world continuing to display a lack of commitment to care for its people is an international disgrace, and it is well past time to do something about this.

Individuals and families in our congregations and in our neighborhoods face an increasingly insurmountable burden in the form of rising health care costs that consume more and more of their income and cause them frequently to postpone or delay indefinitely needed care because they cannot afford it—even if they do have health insurance.  Others are perpetually at risk of losing their coverage altogether, or never qualifying in the first place, due to pre-existing conditions or job insecurity.

The health reform legislation that is presently in Congress is not perfect, nor does it make everyone completely happy.  But it is a huge step in the direction of reducing costs, and it includes many provisions that enjoy widespread support, such as a ban on discrimination for pre-existing conditions, a cap on out-of-pocket health care expenses, zero cost-sharing for preventive care, elimination of lifetime or annual caps on coverage, and assistance for small businesses who also face huge obstacles to providing health care for their employees.

We strongly urge our Congressional leaders, as soon as possible, to pass comprehensive reform that will make health care much more available and affordable to the people of this country.  In particular we urge passage of legislation that includes an Affordability Standard that will allow families at up to 400% of the Federal Poverty Level to afford needed coverage, that includes a cap on out-of-pocket expenses, and that includes the guarantee of a standard set of benefits.

Those of us who are involved in faith-based community organizing understand the principle that “things are the way they are for a reason,” and that those with power and influence often resist change because the playing field of the civic arena is tilted in their favor; otherwise change would be easy.  But it is not, especially as a wide array of special interest groups that want to stop reform are exerting tremendous pressure on elected officials to make sure that nothing really gets done that will substantially change the situation.

But we urge our Congressional leaders as strongly as possible to remember that most important moral and ethical bottom line.  It is unconscionable and unacceptable to allow the opportunity for significant health care reform to pass us by.  For the sake of our neighbors in need of relief, and for the sake of our nation—whose security depends on the well-being of its people—we encourage the Congress not to capitulate to the powerful interests that would foreclose this historic opportunity for progress and for hope, and instead to pass meaningful health care reform legislation without delay.

Rabbi Chasan

Good morning.  What is happening in the healthcare debate is shameful.  Those in Congress who have their heads in the sand are ignoring the real misery and pain of millions of Americans who are without healthcare or are underinsured or about to lose their health care because they may lose their jobs.
 
Thank God for President Obama's leadership.  He understands the dimensions of the crisis and is doing what he can to lead us beyond the undemocratic, dangerously uncivil opposition.  Absolutely necessary reforms are being beaten back by bullying, scare tactics, and outright lies.  Shame on the members of Congress who are betraying the well being of the American people.  The greed of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries threatens, not the well being of millions of Americans, but American democracy itself.
 
It is time to take the profit out of health care.  Why in God’s name are some people making a lot of money on the backs of people who are suffering for lack of accessible, affordable care?  Those who are opposing the public option are hurting millions of Americans.   As President Obama said last Wednesday, a strong public option can provide choice, stability, and an honest yardstick to keep costs down.  Private insurers need this competition to be kept honest and restrained from their greed.

The public option is needed to stop the increase in premiums which are making private insurance unaffordable for many of us.  Public plans would have the purchasing power needed to negotiate lower prices, and they have lower administrative costs.   Even a non-profit provider like Blue Cross Blue Shield in Vermont has high administrative costs.

What kind of democracy do we live in when members of Congress are in the pocket of insurers and drug makers whose self interest prevails over the interests of the American people.  There is something terribly immoral about this situation and it needs to be addressed.

Rev. Dowdall

I am here today as a person of faith and as a Unitarian Universalist minister to raise my voice in support of health care reform.  Like my clergy colleagues who stand before you this morning, I believe we need a new system of health care that is affordable, available to all, and financially sustainable. 

My support for health care reform is not just a matter of politics or policy.  Rather, it springs from my faith, which instructs me that we are called by Love to care for one another –and, related, that we our profoundly connected to one another. 

My faith teaches me that, in the words of Dr. King, “we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”  If any one of us is denied health insurance for a pre-existing condition, we are all affected.  If any one of us dies or grows sicker for lack of adequate coverage, we are all impacted. 

My support for health care reform also springs from my ministry, which has shown me the devastating effects that exorbitant health care costs and lack of affordable insurance have on the people I serve.  I have seen how concerns about insurance coverage add exponentially to the stress of an already devastating diagnosis.  I have seen how the piling up of medical bills weighs on those who need all their energy to fight their illnesses.

Together, my faith and my ministry teach me that providing quality health care must be a sacred trust that is shared by and with all rather than reserved for the privileged few. And so, I lift my voice here today—and I join with all those who are working hard in their communities, their schools, and their places of worship to make this dream of quality health care for all our new reality. 

After all, as the old question goes, if not now, when?  And if not us, who?

Rev. Maier

I am a deacon in the Episcopal Church and a pediatrician from Central Vermont. What am I doing here? What can one more voice say that hasn’t been said? In this long, stumbling journey toward healthcare reform, what difference can one more voice make? Today, I join my voice with that of hundreds of families in the congregations of Vermont Interfaith Action, and millions of those in faith-based community organizations across the country, to shout from the rooftops: Wake Up! Pay Attention! Don’t let this chance for meaningful reform collapse under the weight of political machinery. We must shout together. In the United States, we do not have Health, and we do not have Care! We have profit, and we have inequity. We have massive spending, and we have more and more people who can’t walk through the door of a medical facility without being crushed by medical debt.

We will not have Health until all of our neighbors have access to health, and we will not have true Care until all of our neighbors receive care. True health care emphasizes the maintenance of health and the prevention of disease. It doesn’t wait until a person is so ill, they stagger through the doors of the Emergency Room. True medical care offers the freedom to seek medical care just to stay healthy, and it must be available and affordable for all. Meaningful reform would guarantee a standard set of benefits for all, it would include support for families and individuals earning less than 400% of the federal poverty level, and it would include a cap on out-of-pocket expenses. Meaningful reform would not exclude anyone with a pre-existing medical condition. None of us are truly healthy until all of us move toward health. None of us are truly cared for until all of us care. If we use our collective voices, we will be heard. Pick up your phone, grab your pen. Shout to Congress! Give us meaningful reform.

Ms. Bonilla

Our faith teaches us that health care is about more than policy, dollars and cents, or ideology.  When thousands of people die each year because they cannot get the health care they need; when the reason that half of all families go into bankruptcy each year is because of medical bills they cannot afford; we are moved to believe that something more is at stake in the health care debate.  Reforming health care is a test of how well we as a society come together to heal people’s pain and suffering.  This pain and suffering is also evident here in Vermont.

Last spring, VIA held Health Care Listening Campaigns in eight of our Congregations both here in Burlington and in the Barre/Montpelier area.  During these days of listening we heard from many of our fellow congregants regarding their struggles to access health care and afford coverage.

We heard from Maggie.  Her entire family has struggled with health care. Maggie herself works two part-time jobs, neither of which provides health insurance.  She can’t afford a private policy and has had to discontinue taking her expensive asthma/allergy medication.  One daughter, a recent college graduate, has been kicked off the family insurance policy, and her job doesn’t provide health insurance.  She is fortunate to have coverage through VHAP, but tends not to seek health care when needed because of her inability to afford the out-of-pocket costs. Maggie’s other daughter, a single mother, must contribute 25% of her take-home pay to her insurance premiums for herself and her son, an amount which significantly impacts her ability to support her family.

We also heard from Heather.  Heather, a psychotherapist, worked for an HMO for 5 years.  Over the years the HMO’s policies changed from paying for as many sessions as a patient needed to get better to enforcing a twenty session limit -- indicating that 10 sessions was be preferable.  By the time she left this HMO they were holding workshops on how to do one session therapy.  Heather finally had enough when she was required by her supervisor to release a patient who was clearly in a psychotic state because he had reached the twenty session limit.  Despite having a report indicating that this young man was bi-polar and psychotic, she was forced to send him back to the streets.  The organization obviously cared more about its bottom line than about the mental health of its patients.

We also heard from Linda, a small business owner.  Linda and her husband owned a bookstore for over twenty years.  They were always proud to provide health insurance to their employees.  At first they paid the full premiums for their employees’ coverage.  Over time as the cost of insurance began to spiral out of sight they had to ask their employees to contribute more and more to their premiums, realizing that this was an ever-increasing hardship on their workers. 

And finally, I recently met a gentleman who left a job in the defense industry to follow his dream of obtaining a master’s degree in education to become a high school teacher. At the same time, his wife has opened her own business.  The result is that this family has lost health insurance tied to their jobs and have had to spend 10’s of thousands of their savings for new policies during this transition period.

It is obvious from these stories and the pain and suffering of Vermont families that we can no longer wait for health care reform.  Susan and I are proud to represent VIA in Washington to urge our congressional delegation to do all they can to make affordable quality health care accessible to all. 

Ms. Reid

At the end of February of this year, I fell on the ice and broke my wrist.  What followed reminded me of the “fortunately”--unfortunately”  stories I had heard as a child.

Unfortunately, I fell and landed on my wrist and broke it.

Fortunately, I had a friend who took me to the emergency room and signed papers for me Unfortunately, There were three of us in a row with the same injury, so it took a while.

Fortunately, they brought in the surgeon who specializes in hands and wrists, so we got excellent care.

Unfortunately, although I carried health insurance, my income was low, I had gone on disability two years before, and was spending about 20% of my income on a $10,000 deductible health plan.  The emergency room expenses would all be mine.

Fortunately, I had set aside money in a Health Savings Account, and could cover the $1,000 cost.

Unfortunately, when I went for a follow up visit three days later, the bone in my broken wrist was receding.   I would need surgery, about $7,000 worth.

Fortunately, the clock had been ticking.   Less than 24 hours after my fall, I had gone on Medicare.  March first was my trigger day, and Medicare covered much of my surgery and rehab.  There were deductibles, but I could manage them.

And now for the big unfortunately.  There are millions of Americans, some of whom I have talked to over the past months, who are not so lucky.  They can no longer afford the high cost of health insurance, and can’t get the care they need.  Many of them have been paying into the system for years, but due to unemployment, or, ironically, illness or injury, they can no longer meet payments. 

We need healthcare which we can pay into when we can afford to, and which is there when we need it, even if we are unable to afford premiums.  There are far too many of us who are left to go un cared for, or bankrupt given the current “system.” 

Congress has an opportunity to fix this.  We must not let them let it slip away.