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Indybay Feature

"What's Your Fair Share for Health Care?"

smlc_united_way_health_care_forum_oct._16__08_1.pdf_600_.jpg
Date:
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Time:
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Event Type:
Conference
Organizer/Author:
Michael H. Hejazi (San Mateo Labor Council)
Email:
Phone:
650 572-8848
Address:
1153 Chess Drive, Suite 200 Foster City, CA
Location Details:
United Church of Christ
1336 Arroyo Avenue, San Carlos, CA

Childcare will be available.

A forum with public officials, co-sponsored by Peninsula Interfaith Action, San Mateo County Central Labor Council, San Mateo County ACORN, and Legal Aid Society of San Mateo. Come back a difference! Shine a spotlight on access to quality, affordable health care for the uninsured. Join the effort to make this real.

Special Guests: Jerry Hill, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors

As well as other elected officials and representatives from the Health Plan of San Mateo.

Thursday October 16, 2008
7:00-8:30pm
United Church of Christ
1336 Arroyo Avenue, San Carlos, CA

Childcare will be available.

For more information, contact Rebecca Perez
650 644-6443


County goal: Providing low-income

health care

Setting up task force a step closer to that goal

By Liz Harrelson

A push to provide low-income adults with county-sponsored health care began Thursday
with the formation of a countywide task force set on developing a comprehensive
medical program.

About 85 people representing most groups with a stake in helping the estimated 60,000
to 80,000 uninsured San Mateo County residents - including health care industry
experts, elected officials and nonprofit leaders - turned out to participate in a blue-ribbon
task force aimed at expanding adult health care coverage by studying fiscal, social and
medical issues to develop a comprehensive medical plan.

"The federal government has failed us and the state government has failed us in regards
to health care, so that's why we're doing it locally," said Jerry Hill, president of the San
Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

The task force will develop a health care plan for adults in the county who earn less than
$66,400 for a family of three, said Beverley Thames, spokeswoman for the San Mateo
County Health Department.

The cost of providing medical care for uninsured and indigent patients in San Mateo
County was $68 million for the 2005-06 fiscal year and is expected to rise, said San
Mateo Medical Center spokesman Dave Hook.

Representatives from the business community - which will likely benefit from the task
force's efforts - were absent Thursday, which Hill called "disappointing."
"We have to be talking with the business community to engage them in this process;
there's a tremendous benefit to them in the long run," Hill said. "We may create a
product that they could use, a less expensive model than is available today."
County estimates indicate that about 14 percent of residents are uninsured. Part of this
population is served by the county's WELL program, which stands for Wellness,
Education, Linkage, Low cost. It provides medical coverage for an estimated 7,050
patients who don't qualify for Medicare or other insurance programs, Hook said.
Recommendations from the task force could expand or redesign the WELL program.
"This effort to reduce or perhaps even eliminate the notion of an 'uninsured adult' on the
Peninsula is another example of a countywide collaborative willingness to meet a
challenge head-on and tackle it together for the benefit of all," said San Mateo County
Supervisor Adrienne Tissier.

The task force will present a final program to the Board of Supervisors by July 2007.

E-mail Liz Harrelson at lharrelson [at] dailynewsgroup.com
http://www.sanmateolaborcouncil.org


Added to the calendar on Fri, Oct 10, 2008 2:17PM
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