After months of stimulating a community dialogue on health care reform, the Greater Flint Health Coalition’s Board of Directors adopted an official Resolution on Universal Access to Health Care on Monday, June 15, 2009.
The approved Resolution was finalized and adopted following months of community-wide dialogue, input, and deliberations amongst community leaders representing physicians, hospitals, business, organized labor, government, educators, insurers, grassroots community organizations, healthcare consumers, as well as the residents of Genesee County. Following the Coalition Board’s adoption, the Resolution on Universal Access to Health Care will be provided to President Barack Obama’s administration as they
continue to engage communities nationwide to come together to form positions and provide input on health reform.
Specifically, the Coalition’s position for health reform calls for:
Universal access to health care for all citizens
An end to the employer-based system of health coverage
A benefit package which is as comprehensive as Congressional health plans
A private, regulated insurance system
The elimination of all means testing for the general public
Funding through general taxation.
The Coalition’s Resolution on Universal Access to Health Care contends that there is currently enough money in the healthcare system to cover every American if certain structural flaws are addressed through reform. For example, the United States currently spends 25 – 30% of every healthcare dollar on administration.
This past March, The Flint Journal reported that the Greater Flint Health Coalition was engaging the community in a dialogue regarding health care reform by circulating a “provocative” resolution throughout Genesee County. The public at-large and organizations were invited to provide feedback and contribute to revising the resolution with the goal being to ultimately send a community-wide recommendation to President Barack Obama and legislators regarding health care reform. The product of this activity is the Greater Flint Health Coalition’s Resolution on Universal Access to Health Care as adopted by the GFHC Board on June 15, 2009, which will now be forwarded to the Obama administration and other legislators.
Coincidently, as the resolution was about to be adopted as the official position of the Greater Flint Health Coalition, President Barack Obama called on the mayors of the United States to organize and engage communities nationwide around the importance of health reform under an effort entitled Mayors for Health Reform. The goals of this nationwide effort include:
- Create local momentum for health reform
- Educate communities on the need for health reform this year
- Listen to the voices and health care concerns of communities
- Advance the President’s understanding of the health care problems Americans
- face and the solutions they propose
- Build support amongst peers and constituents for health reform.
The Coalition’s Resolution on Universal Access to Health Care meets the requirements of this request and will in turn be provided to the President’s administration in the coming days.
The Greater Flint Health Coalition and its Board of Directors would like to extend their most sincere gratitude to the residents of Flint and Genesee County as well as the numerous organizations which offered their thoughts and input regarding the resolution and the critical issue of health reform.
The Greater Flint Health Coalition is a non-profit 501(c)3 Michigan organization established in 1992 whose mission is to improve the health status of Genesee County (Michigan) residents and to improve the quality and cost effectiveness of the County’s healthcare delivery system. The GFHC is both, a community/institutional partnership and a multifaceted collaboration with a Board of Directors that broadly reflects the community and its leadership – government, public health, hospitals, labor, business, insurers, physicians, the educational system, consumers, and faith-based organizations.
To read the full Resolution, please click here