Stem Cell Ballot Initative: A Prop 2 that actually works for MI

This is another post from a guest blogger, Julielyn Gibbons. Julielyn Gibbons has been fighting for those unheard voices in Michigan for nearly a decade both in Lansing and online as her nom de plume, Liberal Lucy. Diagnosed with a particularly severe case of Crohn's Disease while a teen, Julielyn's taken her own personal tragedy into a victory and is now one of Michigan's best known political voices and online strategists, recognized for efforts both in Michigan and nationally.

A terrible accident. A horrific diagnosis. A lifetime sentence of needles, medicine, or expensive medical equipment. Even worse, a terminal illness.

Juvenile Diabetes. Cancer. Alzheimer's. Parkinson's Disease. Spinal Cord Injury. ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). Auto-Immune Diseases. Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Your mother, your child, your brother, your friend, your grandparent, your aunt. You.
I was 14. They said I had Crohn's Disease and they were without a reason for the illness, without a cure, without a real treatment.

Almost 15 years later, I'm missing my colon and rectum, among other miscellaneous parts and pieces. My body is a walking tribute to the skill of surgeons after 36 surgeries and almost 80 hospitalizations.

To stay alive and functioning in society, I require over $300 in ostomy supplies a month, not to mention the various treatments and medications that keep the other 'peripheral' conditions and illnesses at bay. I have a deep love-hate relationship with the insurance industry.

I'd like to have children some day, but I realize that if I'm even able to have children, which is unknown at this point because of my health, there's a great risk of passing my disease on. Do I want to do that to my child?

Not a day doesn't pass when I don't realize how lucky I am to be alive, but I also understand that there are millions that like me, suffer from illnesses and injuries that could be one day cured, so that we don't have to suffer.

But first we need the proper research to be done, and so much promise lies in stem cell research.

Unfortunately, Michigan is one of five states that lies in wait for progress to happen. Since 1978, we've been stuck in a Draconian period along with Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Louisiana; definitely some of the least progressive states in our Union.

Fortunately for us, that could change this November. We all have an opportunity to be a part of making a Cure happen for Michigan.

The ballot proposal, (Proposal 2) led by the Cure Michigan folks, would turn the current law right around, and put Michigan at the forefront of curing debilitating illnesses and conditions.

Despite the Extreme Right's moaning and belly-aching about the issue, it's a very practical solution that is quite a bit more 'pro-life' than the current standards. For instance, instead of throwing away unused embryos, parents who use fertility clinics have the option of donating them to helping find a cure. Right now, all they can do is have them thrown out. Seems like a waste, doesn't it?

A study has already found that more than half of all parents who benefit from fertility clinics are willing to donate their embryos to finding a much needed cure.

What's ironic is that under the current law, a researcher could be thrown in jail for up to 10 years for their work in finding a cure by using stem cell lines that would have been put in the trash. As a result, we've already heard the stories of the states that have benefited from our top researchers packing up and moving shop out of Michigan.

A change in Michigan could help cure our health and financial woes. It's a change that a majority of Michigan is already getting behind, as today's editorial from the Muskegon Chronicle highlights.

While you could say that my interest in the Cure Michigan campaign is selfish, there's a good chance that you have someone in your life who is either suffering now or has suffered in the past from an illness that could be helped or cured through stem cell research. In the end, we all benefit from finding a cure.

Get the facts, send it on to your friends, family, neighbors, and above all, let's make sure that we all check YES on November 4th. We can't afford not too.

Medicare and the 2008 Presidential Election – Why it matters

This is a guest blog from my dear friend The Road Less Traveled. The Road Less Traveled is a graduate of the Masters in Health Advocacy Program at Sarah Lawrence College. Her expertise in the field lies in helping consumers gain access to appropriate health care, as she has done with Medicare, Managed Care and Prescription Drugs.

Early in my career as a health advocate I had the amazing opportunity of counseling Medicare beneficiaries and training other advocates to do the same. What I learned through that process, in addition to my health policy and law studies in graduate school, was an invaluable lesson in how health care policy, from law to implementation, works in the US. Some friends of mine were recently discussing past US elections and how seniors seemed to have a heavy influence in the issues regarded by the candidates. While it is true that we, as young people, are not directly affected by Medicare now, we will be eventually. If we want to have reliable health care when get older, or should we happen to come upon terrible luck and incur a disability, then we need to make sure that Medicare is properly funded and administered. Not to mention, as our parents are coming upon Medicare age now, it may affect us more than we expect.

Medicare was put into law in 1965, in response to the critical need for older people and those with disabilities to be covered by health insurance. Medicaid was passed in the same bill, offering health insurance for people with low incomes. These populations are often vulnerable and refused by insurance companies due to their high costs of care and fixed incomes. We obviously saw a reason in 1965 to create health care coverage for people who otherwise would not be able to get it. It has been the closest form of a universal health program in the US.

There have been significant changes to Medicare since it was first passed. Most significantly, HMOs began coming to Medicare with the passage of the Balance Budget Act of 1997 (offering what are now known as Medicare Advantage plans). Prior to this, Medicare benefits could only be obtained by enrolling in a federal program administered solely by Medicare. Then in 2003, the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) was passed, establishing an outpatient prescription drug benefit offered only through private plans. This was a substantial step in privatizing Medicare as beneficiaries could not get drug coverage under the traditional Medicare program.

The supposed advantage of receiving a drug benefit through only private insurers was that competition would allow for better choices of plans. There were a few flaws in this idea. First, insurers jumped on the chance to provide plans to the growing senior population, resulting in 50-60 plan choices within a region. Beneficiaries had to search through all of these plans to find out if their drugs were covered and for how much. Imagine your grandparents or great-grandparents trying to search online between 50 drug plans or talk to an inept customer service representative (if they could get through to anyone). Second, insurers were not always ethical in enrolling individuals and took advantage of the trusting people who thought they were trying to help them out. CMS (the federal administrator of Medicare) has not been diligent in holding insurers responsible for indiscretions and have made some indiscretions of their own . Finally, the act did not allow for the federal government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, doing nothing to help bring down the enormous costs of drugs used by seniors.

In addition to offering a drug benefit only through private insurers, the Bush administration has been pushing the privatization of Medicare through Medicare Advantage plans. In fact, the government has been making payments to private insurers to enroll more beneficiaries into these plans for lower costs. People with lower incomes especially see this as beneficial because it lowers their costs of care. Sounds great, right? Not so much if you realize that many people get trapped into these plans for a year by fraudulent marketing tactics and are not always warned that their doctors and hospital must be in network in order to get these lower costs. I saw a lot of people receive huge bills from their doctors that Medicare would not pay because they were enrolled in an HMO that their provider does not take. It was heartbreaking.

Why is all of this important in the 2008 election? The Medicare population is growing significantly as the baby boom generation is becoming eligible for the benefits. With the federal deficit the way it is, the government is looking to cut costs where ever it can. With Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security representing over 40% of the federal budget, you can count on the fact that it’s going to be scrutinized and revised. So, it’s very important to know what the candidates views are on these things. It’s not something that we’ve been hearing about, not as sensational as the bailout plan or the Iraq war. But it is something that, if it doesn’t already, will affect you in the future.

Proponents of universal healthcare have long offered Medicare as a successful example of a universal health care in the US. It’s no surprise then that McCain wants to see more people enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans and less in traditional Medicare. Obama, also not surprisingly, wants to see the subsidies going to insurers eliminated, so that the costs for enrolling people in the traditional plan and the private plans are the same. Since Obama would like to see universal health care, he will support the traditional form of Medicare, because its success will only strengthen his platform for a universal health care system. McCain wants more privatization. More information on how the candidates compare can be found here.

Regardless of who gets elected, losing Medicare would be a tremendous upset to the US. Not only would it detrimental to the vulnerable people who are covered by it, but it would affect much in the way our hospitals and medical centers are run. For instance, EMTALA, an act passed in the 1980’s, requires all hospitals receiving Medicare reimbursement to see and stabilize anyone who comes through their doors. Since just about every hospital in the US takes Medicare, the act covers them.

The next administration will be key in the future of Medicare and in the future of health care itself. See for yourself how the candidates compare and keep this is mind, in addition to the economy and the Iraq war. Because once the economy is restored and we get out of Iraq (although these may be long and arduous journeys), we will still need good health care. This is an issue that will never be irrelevant.

Now, go hug a senior and tell them it’ll be okay! Tell them the young people in this country are concerned about Medicare too.

Guest Bloggers Wanted on the Election--Are You In?

I'm going to continue to post this....

For the next six weeks, me and my trained staff of monkeys will be bringing you news and opinions about the election (mostly my opinions). In order to do that in an organized fashion, I've developped topics for each week--six in total (see how this is coming together)--so that we can discuss these issues one by one. Sure they're all interconnected, but let's really dig deep.

So here's what's on deck for the next six weeks:

Week 1, September 22 through September 28, 2008 Education

Week 2, September 29 through October 5, 2008 Healthcare

Week 3, October 6 through October 12, 2008 Foreign Policy and Foreign Relations

Week 4, October 13 through October 19, 2008 The American Worker--Unions, Workers Rights and Wages
Week 5, October 20 through October 26, 2008 The Hot Topics--Race, Gender, Gays, Reproductive Rights and Guns

Week 6, October 27 through November 2, 2008 Innovation and Personality--Who Do We Need To Lead

I am going to start actively seeking guest bloggers on these topics--whether you agree with me or not--to fodder debate. Let's really talk about these issues and shed some light on some dark places. If you want to contribute, e-mail me at onlybaggage@gmail.com.