I solicited some comments from the GBIO folks who went to the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation’s health care forum yesterday. This is from Brother Jack Rathschmidt:
Once again, the poor, the uninsured, people of color and cultures other than our own were not represented at today’s gathering at JFK library. An important, informative meeting, but lacking the people who are most effected by today’s meeting. I was very impressed with the quality of the research from the Urban Center folks, nevertheless, there is little input evident from the people most effected. That our Governor continues to suggest that we won’t need new revenues to fund health care for all is getting very old.
The folks where I live in Jamaica Plain tell me that that are 40 to 50%
of Latinos that are uninsured. Where were they today? Who is listening
to them?Br. Jack
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By the way, the whole point of the forum yesterday was the release of part II of the BCBS Foundation’s Roadmap to Coverage series. You can get the pdfs from here and wonk out.
Where were they today? Who is listeningto them?Asking that question yields its own answer. Truth is most people are busy making ends meet, raising their families, or doing whatever else they need to do to run their lives. Going to a meeting about un-insurance to them is a lot less effective, to them, than going to say, their second job to pay the bills they owe. I think going to a meeting to talk about uninsured people is something that only those who are insured and doing well can ‘afford’ to do.
Alas, I think your last comment is the most telling. As someone who said through all the high powered politics, the ultimate product was a very wonky approach that can’t be easily presented to regular people. As somone who cares about this, I had to force myself to concentrate. That ain’t gonna sell a major policy shift. Where’s the passion and the morale impertative?