Tell Your Story In support of consumer protections and expansions in healthcare coverage Families USA (health care advocates) is searching for compelling stories of individuals and families that have had problems with their existing coverage or with loss of coverage entirely.
TELL YOUR STORY
MANAGED CARE CONSUMERS' BILL OF RIGHTS
MEDICAID TOOL KIT
CONSUMER PROTECTIONS
In support of consumer protections and expansions in healthcare coverage Families USA (health care advocates) is searching for compelling stories of individuals and families that have had problems with their existing coverage or with loss of coverage entirely.
Highlighting the real and urgent human cost of Congressional inaction on these issues is crucial to being persuasive and thus effective, We will be taking these stories to print, radio, and TV media, to Congress, to partners in the states, adding to the collected efforts of many groups and with them together hopefully achieving real advances in health care coverage.
Any help you can give is very welcome - specific people (can be anonymous), or the names of service providers or other advocacy groups that work with affected individuals and that may be able to provide stories. All stories will of course be cleared with the people in question prior to release. Thanks much!
Please contact: Alex Cho, Families USA, 1334 G St, NW, Washington, DC 20005 or contact e-mail acho@familiesusa.org phone (202) 626 0643 or (202) 347 2417 (fax)
THE MANAGED CARE CONSUMERS' BILL OF RIGHTS
A Health Policy Guide for Consumer Advocates. At the heart of the publication is 40 pages of model legislation detailing how to establish 10 fundamental rights for managed care consumers and the health professionals who care for them. The model legislation is accompanied by a timely, focused discussion of the key policy issues in establishing managed care regulations. The model legislation covers: access, choice, comprehensive benefits, affordability, quality, appeals, information, confidentiality and non-discrimination, representation, and enforcement.
It is a publication of the Public Policy and Education Fund of NY, in cooperation with Citizens Fund.
The cost is only $5.00 to cover postage and handling. You can order by e-mail with a credit card to ppef@aol.com; or by fax to 518/465-2890. Include a VISA or MasterCard number and expiration date. You can also order by mail by sending a check payable to "PPEF" to PPEF, 94 Central Ave., Albany, NY 12206. Voice: 518/465-4600.
This is a compendium of Medicaid information and strategy ideas created for Families USA's "Medicaid Emergency '96" Conference in January (and distributed to participants as part of their registration fee). It has over 200 pages prepared by Families USA staff and colleagues in other national and state organizations. It is broken down into the following chapters: Changes in the Federal Law, Organizing and Coalition-building, Eligibility, Benefits and Cost-sharing, Managed Care, State Funding, Cutting Costs Without Hurting Care, Accountability, Media and Communications, Bibliography, Participants, Medicaid Emergency #96.
People attending the conference were very complimentary about the "Tool Kit," and we think it is good collection of useful materials for those of you engaging in the state Medicaid fight.
The costs cover copying and mailing costs: $30 with a 3-ring binder; $20 without the binder (but 3-hole punched). Please send your check payable to Families USA Foundation to: Medicaid Took Kit, Families USA, 1334 G St., NW, Washington, DC 20005.
For those of you who want to go deeper into managed care and consumer protections (for the entire population), we recommend "Consumer Protections in State HMO Laws." (The lead author is Geri Dallek, who's now Families USA's director of health policy.) This November 1995 publication analyzes state laws and regulations in all 50 states (but doesn't detail each state's laws) relating to 10 HMO consumer protection areas (marketing/enrollment, access and benefits, quality of care, grievance and appeals procedures, HMO data collection/reporting, information provided enrollees/available to the public, HMO accountability to enrollees/enrollee participation and governance, protection against conflicts of interest, protection against insolvency, and penalties for HMOs violating state law.) This 100+ page study highlights innovative state consumer protections and lists over 200 recommendations on how to protect HMO enrollees.
It's available for $25 (for non-profit organizations) from the Center for Health Care Rights, 520 S. Lafayette, Park Pl., #214, Los Angeles, CA 90057, 213/383-4598. Volume II of the study (1,000+ pages) provides a summary of each state's HMO laws and costs $100, or $5.00 for an individual state summary.
Source: Jeff Kirsch, Families USA, jkirsch@familiesusa.org