September 2018 meet-up: Gettysburg DFA Launches Healthcare Voter Campaign

Left to right: DFA members Will Lane, Sandy Busche and Jeanne Duffy; PHAN organizers Robin Stelly and Tori Decker

On Wednesday, September 5, at Valentine Hall at the Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg DFA’s Healthcare Task Force launched its Healthcare Voter Campaign with an appearance by Robin Stelly from the Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN), a statewide organization that works with consumers to help them gain access to affordable care but also seeks to educate policy makers and the public about healthcare issues.  

Task force members Sandy Busche, Jeanne Duffy and others have been working closely with PHAN, attending events in Harrisburg and participating in weekly conference calls. The Healthcare Voter Campaign is based on an earlier PHAN campaign and will seek to enroll voters who pledge to vote on November 6 to protect and extend access to healthcare for all.

Robin opened her presentation by introducing Tori Decker, a Gettysburg DFA member who also works as a field representative for PHAN and connects directly with consumers to help them purchase insurance on the ACA exchanges. “They hate the exchanges,” she said, “but they love our navigators like Tori. We’re the best in the state.”

As part of her opening remarks, Robin also stressed the importance of stories, of communicating lived experiences, for helping people understand the realities of access to healthcare. These stories can often be shared through letters to the editor (and opinion pieces) that will be read potentially by thousands as they are shared on Facebook and other social media. They can also be shared through “tabling” at community events where it’s possible to talk face to face about healthcare issues.

“The question ‘what’s at stake in the November election?’ is really a question about ‘who’s at risk,’” she said. “Policies can hurt people, or help them, but people are always involved.”

At the federal level, Robin identified the following concerns:

1.    Repeal of the Affordable Care Act.  Vice President Pence has stated publicly that they are “going to work on repeal” if they maintain control of  Congress. This could mean: the loss of protection against denial of coverage because of pre-existing conditions;  the loss of protection against recision, the sudden cancellation of coverage because of an expensive illness; and the proliferation of junk plans, inexpensive plans that offer grossly inadequate coverage.  

2.    Rollback of the Medicaid Expansion. “The ACA was a windfall for insurance companies,” Robin commented, “but Medicaid Expansion they cannot abide. 751,000 people in Pennsylvania would lose coverage if the Medicaid Expansion is cut. The expansion saved lives.”

3.    Conversion of Medicaid to Block Grants.  This conversion would mean huge cuts in real terms and local and state taxes will have to rise to make up the difference.  Medicaid put $4 billion into public schools to help disabled children. It pays for care in nursing homes when individual resources run out. Medicare does not cover this care, Medicaid does.

4.    Conversion of Medicare to vouchers, dubbed “premium assistance” in most proposals but offering only a set amount per year and shifting all the risk onto the individual recipient.

At the state level, Robin reported, the big issue is Medicaid work requirements.  PHAN estimates that 85,000 people could lose coverage in Pennsylvania at an additional cost to the taxpayer of $3.4 billion over ten years. “The existing bureaucracy simply cannot handle the extra load,” she said. “The most vulnerable will be the one’s hurt by the additional red tape.” In Kentucky similar requirements were rejected by the court as undermining the mission of Medicaid. A law in Pennsylvania is also likely to be challenged in court.

Governor Wolf has played a key role in preventing the Medicaid work requirement from becoming law. He vetoed the bill the first time and threatened a second veto if the bill came back to his desk. Should he not be reelected, however, Medicaid work requirements are likely to become law.

PHAN’s annual conference is coming up this October 14 and 15 in Harrisburg with workshops for activists and appearances by Dr. Jamilia Michener, author of Fragmented Democracy, and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and others. Gettysburg DFA members are encouraged to attend. More information is available at https://www.pahealthconference.org/