KCDCC Notes from Erica Minshull

These notes were taken at the May KCDCC meeting:

Report of KCDCC Executive Board Meeting,

Carpenters Hall, Renton, May 26, 2009

Candidates running for various positions were introduced and given a few minutes each to speak. Those present (and position for which running): Joe Mallahan (Seattle Mayor); Larry Phillips (King County Executive); Tom Carr (City of Seattle Attorney); Peter Holmes (City of Seattle Attorney); Rich Medved (King County Assessor); David Miller (Seattle City Council); Brian Bennett (Burien City Council); Rusty Williams (Seattle City Council); James Donaldson (Seattle Mayor); Dow Constantine (King County Executive); Tom Albro (Port Commission seat presently held by Pat Davis); Noel Ringley on behalf of Jordan Royer (Seattle City Council); and Jessie Israel (Seattle City Council)

The program consisted mainly of a Health Care Panel led by Dr. Lisa Plymate. Panelists included: Dr. Hugh Foy (Harborview Hospital); Dr. David Baughan (Group Health Hospital in Olympia); Larry Kalb (Health Care for All); and, Chris Toal (a health policy expert). Lisa introduced the discussion by pointing out that the U.S. now has 50 million uninsured and another 50 million underinsured, and that 50% of the A.M.A. now favors some form of public involvement in health care financing.
David cited the following as the key criteria for evaluating ideas for changes in health-care policy:

• Who will be covered … and who NOT covered?

• What will be covered … and who decides what will be covered, and how?

• Portability: What if an individual changes jobs, or moves?

• Exclusions, such as age or pre-existing conditions.

• Do deductibles or out-of-pocket co-payment requirements limit the usefulness of coverage or add unduly to its cost?

Larry provided the following definition of single-payer health care: a system with government-run financing of health care (but not government provision of the actual health care services). A proper single-payer system must be comprehensive, with one card providing for treatment by any doctor in the country, a single uniform claims system (as in the VA at present), and no third-party interference in medical decisions. There will need to be a guaranteed funding source, not subject to budgetary competition with education, transit, or other public needs, no matter how important those needs may be at the time.

Hugh said that 75 Congressmembers have signed on to a bill for true single-payer health care. The Conyers bill is the best. Jim McDermott in the House, and Bernie Sanders in the Senate, have proposed bills that are somewhat less satisfactory in that they’re incremental -- McDermott’s relying on creating single-payer on a state-by-state basis. But none seem to be moving forward, even with 59% of Americans supporting a single-payer option.

Pres. Obama has said he would need three things to bring about the needed health care reform: a Democratic majority in the Senate, and in the House, and a Democrat in the White House. Even with all those now in place, there is still insufficient movement -- partly because many Congressmembers are still answering to the health care industry and its lobbyists. One hopeful sign, though, is that when a health care bill has passed the House, the Senate has committed to consider it under a “reconciliation” process – in which only 50 votes (plus the V-P) are needed to pass it, without fear of a filibuster.

David discussed an oft-mentioned fallback alternative to true single-payer, the so-called “public option” -- in which government offers health insurance as an alternative to, and in competition with, that offered by private-sector health insurers. All would co-exist. Obviously, that is the only form the present health insurance industry might be persuaded to tolerate.

But any public-option system should be evaluated under the five criteria David mentioned earlier. And the resulting competition would have to be on a level playing field; i.e., it is critical that any competing private insurance programs should have to operate under the same coverage standards as the government program. They must NOT be allowed to “cherry-pick” by accepting only low-risk young and healthy clients, while dumping the likely-more-expensive elderly and infirm onto the government’s insurance program.

If we enact a public-option system, or anything else short of true single-payer, we will have to reexamine its effectiveness in 4-5 years, perhaps without the nominal Congressional-support advantage we now have.

David provided some numbers on how our health-care dollars are being spent under the present system: $300 billion for insurance administration (incl’g $20 billion for “denial management”), $19 billion for political contributions, $2.2 billion for lobbying, and $30 billion for drug marketing. Executive compensation is 2000 times that of rank-and-file employees. Drug company profits are 14%-19%. Chris added that Medicare alone is en route to costing the American public $7 trillion
Information was given on how to get involved, such as participating in the May 30th Health Care for All march/rally and contacting our representatives to ask for single-payer options to be seriously considered.

Officer and Committee Reports:

Chair’s Report:

Multicultural Networking Committee – New chair (Ann Martin) was announced; no other news to report.

Current status of KCDCC includes: 175 paid members and sponsors, 1252 PCOs (down from earlier reports), 8 LDs with donations. 900 mailings went out to high donors who give to the DNC but not locally, with one envelope returned as of the date of the meeting.

Candidate interviews are scheduled for June 6th at the Carpenters Hall in Renton.
Asked to let Chad Lupkes know if any LDs have an RSS feed or calendars that can be linked with the kcdems.org website.

There are two resolutions in development, one on homelessness and one on same-sex marriage, but none ready to be presented at this meeting.

Reminder of the rummage sale scheduled for May 31st.

Elections Committee:

Discussed new ballot-counting machines that may be in use soon in King County. The required state approval has been obtained. Developed/produced by Diebold. Expected that these machines, which can tally up but not produce a total count of votes for each candidate/choice, will improve Election Day results.
Treasurer’s Report:

$1041 cash on hand – an improvement vs. last month, but please give a donation if you haven’t.

LAC Report (by Sarajane):

May meeting included Scott White and Maralyn Chase, who gave a legislative update. Next month they will meet with Tina Orwall.

Basically by Erica Minshull, with several edits/inputs by Dean Fournier,

Your KCDCC Representatives