[Missouri-l] Fw: [acb-l] You Have a Role in National Healthcare Reform

Mon May 18 21:25:11 CDT 2009

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Christopher Gray" <chris at bayareadigital.us>
To: "ACB Leadership List" <Leadership at acb.org>; "ACB General Discussion 
List" <acb-l at acb.org>; "California Council of the Blind Discussion List" 
<CCB-L at googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, May 18, 2009 6:46 PM
Subject: [acb-l] You Have a Role in National Healthcare Reform


> Hello to All:
>
> Today, the AMerican Foundation for the Blind and Vision Serve Alliance 
> hosted an
> extremely well thought-out and informative seminar.  Probably many of you 
> saw
> the announcement and attendance was quite good.
>
> We learned as a part of that discussion that the Senate Finance Committee 
> has
> begun significant work on a healthcare reform bill.  Information about 
> their
> work is now available on the web, and the committee is soliciting 
> individuals to
> comment on that information.  We have only until Friday though to do so.
>
> Mark Richert indicated in his presentation today that comments in the 
> following
> three key areas are particularly needed.  It is equally true that a 
> comment on
> any aspect of this by you is going to come at a key time in this 
> discussion and
> can have significant impact now.
>
> 1.  Healthcare reform must address the availability of accessible medical
> equipment for visually-impaired and blind people.  In other words, where
> hardware devices play a part in healthcare, those devices need to be 
> usable
> by blind and visually impaired people.  If a person must use oxygen, they
> need to be able to use their oxygen equipment independently.  THe same is
> true for taking blood pressure, blood glucose readings, oximeter readings,
> administering medications, and so forth.  Additionally, if technology can
> assist them in achieving better health, that technology needs to be a part 
> of
> the healthcare delivery system.  Such technology could include magnifiers,
> communications devices, and travel/safety aids.  For those of you who may 
> not
> be aware, none of these kinds of products are typically covered today
> by Medicare, Medicaid, or private healthcare insurance providers.
>
> 2.  Healthcare reform must address the availability of accessible
> prescription drug identification mechanisms.  THe idea here is to require
> talking prescription bottles, or some other means for a blind or visually
> impaired person to know which prescription drug they are taking.
>
> 3.  Healthcare reform must address issues specifically related to low 
> vision
> and blindness.  Given the complexity and the depth of the discussion that
> must accompany meaningful healthcare reform, the blind cannot be submerged
> and essentially forgotten within the context of the healthcare needs of 
> the
> more general disabled population.  This is meant in no way to dismiss the
> needs of others in the disabled community.  It is only to say that in too
> many cases, the vital issues needs we have related to vision loss get 
> buried
> in a discussion when it becomes too broad.  This has been happening to the
> blind community for the past three decades of healthcare discussion and we
> need to try to bring back some balance to this situation.
>
> Please make your voice heard in this discussion today by visiting
>
> http://finance.senate.gov
>
> Then click on the Legislation link.  Near the top of that page, you will 
> see
> three dated items as follows:
>
> 5-18-09
> Baucus, Grassley Policy Options for Financing Comprehensive Health Care 
> Reform: Proposed Health System Savings and Revenue Options
>
> 5-11-09
> Baucus, Grassley Policy Options for Expanding Health Care Coverage: 
> Proposals to Provide Affordable Coverage to All Americans
>
> April 2009,
> 4-28-09
> Baucus, Grassley Policy Options for Transforming the Health Care Delivery 
> System: Proposals to Improve Patient Care and Reduce Health Care Costs
>
> I have not investigated these links yet, but plan to do so later today. 
> It is
> imperative that as many of us as possible get to work on presenting at 
> least
> some comments now.
>
> Please try to have a look at this information and begin thinking about 
> comments
> you'd like to present.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Chris
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------- Christopher Gray, President
> Bay Area Digital
>
> Promoting good health with innovative technology and superior health 
> products
>
> 870 Market Street, #653
> San Francisco, CA 94102
> Phone:  (415) 217-6667
> fax:    (415) 962-2520
> Email:  chris at bayareadigital.us
>
> Visit my blog at http://ChristopherGray.squarespace.com
>
> Visit me on Facebook by linking to 
> http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1096118444
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 16:13:15 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
> From: Christopher Gray <chris at bayareadigital.us>
> Reply-To: healthissues at acb.org
> To: healthissues at acb.org
> Subject: [healthissues] National Health Care TeleSeminar
>
> Hello Fellow Committee Members:
>
> Chris Cooke and I attended the seminar today.  I know she was there 
> because she
> asked a question which was very well received and a good addition to the
> discussion portion of the teleseminar.
>
> The purpose of the seminar was to begin gathering together a coalition of
> people interested and willing to participate in the conversation about
> healthcare that will occur between now and the time when healthcare reform 
> is
> either adopted or defeated in the U.S. Congress.  The seminar was 
> conducted by
> Mark Richert of the AMerican Foundation for the Blind and Roxanne Mayros 
> of
> Vision Serve Alliance. Vision Serve Alliance is the relatively new name 
> for the
> National Council of Private Agencies Serving the Blind and Visually 
> Impaired.
>
> Mark Richert began by describing the political landscape of healthcare 
> reform
> today.  He referred us and has asked us to refer as many others as 
> possible to
> a report and place for comments on that report from the Senate Finance
> Committee. This is the committee currently proceeding with healthcare 
> reform
> initiatives. There may well be others in the future, but we need to go to 
> this
> website now and provide our personal and/or organizational comments:
>
> website:  http://finance.senate.gov
>
> On this site are reports and initial discussions put forward by the 
> committee.
> In addition, there are places where people can add comments.  I haven't 
> done it
> yet so that's why I'm a little vague here.  However, this is something we 
> need
> to do, and it must be done by the end of the business day this Friday.
>
> Mark suggested three issues on which we might comment.  Chris, if I got
> something wrong here, please chime into the conversation.  I won't be 
> offended
> in the slightest.
>
> 1.  Healthcare reform must address the availability of accessible medical
> equipment for visually-impaired and blind people.  In other words, where
> hardware devices play a part in healthcare, those devices need to be 
> usable by
> blind and visually impaired people.  If a person must use oxygen, they 
> need to
> be able to use their oxygen equipment independently.  THe same is true for
> taking blood pressure, blood glucose readings, oximeter readings, 
> administering
> medications, and so forth.  Additionally, if technology can assist them in
> achieving better health, that technology needs to be a part of the 
> healthcare
> delivery system.  Such technology could include magnifiers, communications
> devices, and travel/safety aids.  For those of you who may not be aware of
> this, none of these kinds of products are typically covered today by 
> Medicare,
> Medicaid, or private healthcare insurance providers.
>
> 2.  Healthcare reform must address the availability of accessible 
> prescription
> drug identification mechanisms.  THe idea here is to require talking
> prescription bottles, or some other means for a blind or visually impaired
> person to know which prescription drug they are taking.
>
> 3.  Healthcare reform must address issues specifically related to low 
> vision
> and blindness.  Given the complexity and the depth of the discussion that 
> must
> accompany meaningful healthcare reform, the blind cannot be submerged and
> essentially forgotten within the context of the healthcare needs of the 
> more
> general disabled population.  This is meant in no way to dismiss the needs 
> of
> others in the disabled community.  It is only to say that in too many 
> cases,
> the vital issues needs we have related to vision loss get buried in a
> discussion when it becomes too broad.  This has been happening to the 
> blind
> community for the past three decades of healthcare discussion and we need 
> to
> try to bring back some balance to this situation.
>
> We then heard from Roxanne Mayros who discussed in particular a 
> demonstration
> project that has been ongoing between several service agencies for the 
> blind,
> working with CMS for reimbursement of healthcare delivery to their 
> communities
> of blind and low vision people.  CMS reimbursements have been so low, and 
> there
> has often been such a shortage of blindness professionals to adequately 
> serve
> potential clients that this demonstration project may do more harm than 
> good to
> healthcare delivery services in our community.  We need to be mindful of 
> this
> as we enter into the overall healthcare   conversation during this session 
> of
> Congress.  Roxannne's message is complex and filled with a myriad of 
> details
> that are just too big to summarize here.  It is my hope that she may write 
> up
> some of these points for broader distribution in the near future.
>
> The remainder of the seminar was taken up with questions and answers.  THe
> discussion was quite interesting and helpful.  We will definitely be 
> hearing
> more from this group and will see lots of emails and discussion papers in 
> the
> next several months.  Apparently, about 150 people signed up for the 
> seminar
> today.  Hopefully, many of us can now follow up with comments to the 
> Senate
> committee.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Chris
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------- Christopher Gray, President Bay 
> Area
> Digital
>
> Promoting good health with innovative technology and superior health 
> products
>
> 870 Market Street, #653
> San Francisco, CA 94102
> Phone:  (415) 217-6667
> fax:    (415) 962-2520
> Email:  chris at bayareadigital.us
>
> Visit my blog at http://ChristopherGray.squarespace.com
>
> Visit me on Facebook by linking to
> http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1096118444
>
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