by Alta L. Price, M.D.[Update: Take a look at the front page of today's Quad-City Times for some nice local coverage of this event: Health-Care Forum Elevates Q-C Voices ]
One of our events for Cover the Uninsured Week was a bi-state forum held on Saturday, March 28 at Augustana College – Quad Cities Coming Together: What We Need in Health Care Reform. A small group of hard-working activists formed the steering committee, recruited twenty-eight cosponsoring organizations, an excellent moderator, Professor Aaron Buchko of Bradley University, thirteen small group facilitators, and student volunteers from Augustana to make this event happen. We had excellent press coverage both before the event and on the day of the event. About half of the roughly eighty participants were from Iowa and half from Illinois. The group included almost equal numbers of health care providers and consumers. (I guess the Medical Societies took it to heart when I said I would appreciate not being the only doctor there!) This online article from the Dispatch-Argus lists some of the concerns that came out of the small group discussions:
“How can employers afford to provide affordable health care? How can you make it so retirees can afford health care? How can you encourage people to have a primary-care physician? How can you ensure those with pre-existing conditions have access to health care? How can you rein in the costs for physicians and hospital care? How can you improve mental-health coverage? How can you lower the cost of medications? How can you make people accountable for personal responsibility?â€
Each of the thirteen small groups also addressed the kinds of changes they would like to see in the health care system to address the concerns they identified, and suggested ways to make those changes happen. The steering committee will need to summarize the information from the small groups before presenting it to our members of Congress and the Obama Administration. We also collected an individual survey from the participants, which will need to be condensed into a final report. It will be interesting to see if any kind of a community consensus emerges from this process. We hope to have a final report in about two weeks.
Alta Price is a physician practicing Pathology in Davenport, Iowa. One of the original Deaniacs, she stays involved with Democracy for America, Iowa, and the Quad Cities. She advocates for quality, affordable health care for all, primarily as a volunteer with Progressive Action for the Common Good (Health Care Reform Issue Forum). Watch for Dr. Price's Health Care Reform Update every Tuesday here on Blog for Iowa. E-Mail Alta Price
