Healing or Hurting: Healthcare in Arizona

Dr. Eve Shapiro, PDA Tucson healthcare issue organizing team leader, will be the featured speaker at the Northside Democrats October lunch meeting. Come and learn more about the state of healthcare in Arizona. This event is free and open to the public.

Wednesday, October 10, at 12:00 Noon

with speaker

Eve Shapiro, MD

"Healing or Hurting: Healthcare in Arizona"

Wednesday, October 10, at 12:00 Noon

The Redline Sports Grill,
 445 W. Wetmore
( 1/2 block W. of Oracle)

Free admission!
 Tasty and reasonably priced food available for purchase--come early to order.

The lunch program will last about an hour.

Afterward, you're invited to stay on for conversation with fellow Democrats,

open and frank discussion with local politicos, and Free Coffee & Cookies.

Pre-existing condition? Here's affordable insurance for you

One of the most popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the elimination of pre-existing conditions as a reason to deny health insurance coverage. Unfortunately, that piece of the ACA doesn't kick in until 2014. In the meantime, people with pre-existing conditions have the choice of gambling on waiting for this provision or trying to buy something they can afford.

The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association and other partners are announcing the availability of a Pre-esixting Condition Insurance Plan, and they need our help to spread the word. Here's the background...

Healthcare coverage for low-income and sick patients in Arizona is extremely limited. One of the few relatively affordable options for the uninsured is the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). PCIP coverage is intended to serve as bridge for coverage until 2014 when health insurance exchanges become operational and the regulation ensuring people can no longer be denied coverage based on their health status is in place.  

More than 70,000 people are now covered by PCIP since the program started in 2010. PCIP enrollment has not been as successful as it could be due in large part due to the lack of a marketing campaign. Grassroots efforts in Arizona and other states have helped increase PCIP enrollment, but they have had only limited success.  

The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association, along with other healthcare partners, have produced commercials in English and Spanish to help generate public awareness of the program. The commercials are captivating, appeals to a wide audience and it has tremendous potential to grow PCIP enrollment at a faster pace.

Check out this link or this link for more information and check out these videos. Spread the word if you know anyone with a pre-existing condition who has no insurance coverage.

The American Healthcare Crazy Quilt: Connect the Dots Presentation Oct. 6

Andrea Witte, the "Connect the Dots Lady", is at it again. 

PDA members may remember her lively and fact-filled presentation at our forum on the People's Budget. One of her newest presentations is "The American Healthcare Crazy Quilt." Catch this presentation on Saturday, Oct. 6. Here is the background...

All other industrialized democracies when faced with challenges in their healthcare systems have found different ways to cover everybody while spending far less than we do and getting better overall results. In many ways, foreign healthcare models are not really "foreign" to America -- we've actually blended versions of all the systems together into a costly, confusing, inefficient, bureaucratic "crazy quilt." So let's examine the problems in our healthcare system and see how the Affordable Care Act passed in March 2010 addresses those problems and where it falls short.  

 WHERE: Salt of the Earth Labor College, 1902 E. Irene Vista, Tucson AZ (east of South Campbell Ave & south of 36th Street)  

WHEN: Saturday, Oct 6th, 2012; 2:00pm to 4:00pm