REACHING for the WHITE HOUSE
A Letter from the President of the United States, Barack Obama
(March 4, 2014)
Thank you for writing. Now that more elements of the Affordable Care Act are coming into place, many Americans are wondering how the law will affect them—especially when there is so much conflicting information going around. I want to take this opportunity to explain what is going on and how everyone stands to benefit from health care reform.
From the very beginning, the Affordable Care Act has been about freeing families from the fear that one illness or one injury could cost you everything you dedicated a lifetime to build. Everyone should get the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford.
The Affordable Care Act is fulfilling that promise. Before the law, insurers could discriminate against kids with pre-existing conditions. They could deny coverage because of a past illness or charge women more than men for the same coverage. And every day, people who thought they had good insurance were getting dropped from their plans and billed into bankruptcy just because they had the misfortune of getting sick.
The Affordable Care Act establishes some of the strongest consumer protections this country has ever known. Today, you can buy insurance that guarantees you can no longer be discriminated against or dropped from your plan when you get sick. Insurers can no longer put lifetime limits on the care you receive. You can rest easier knowing that when you need health coverage the most, you will have it.
The law goes even further to help the 15 percent of Americans who do not have health insurance and the 5 percent who have to buy it on their own—people who have been locked out or priced out of our health care system, or who paid huge premiums for plans that often failed to provide real financial protection.
In 2013, we opened the Health Insurance Marketplace to give them the chance to buy quality, affordable health care like everybody else. And by pooling their purchasing power as one big group, the Marketplace is helping the uninsured and underinsured get a better deal.
That includes Americans who bought insurance on the old individual market—many of whom ended up with substandard coverage. To make sure they have the flexibility they need, I also took action to give them the chance to re-enroll in their current plans if their insurers and their states allow it.
The bottom line is this: nobody is losing their right to health care coverage. Americans without health insurance will finally be able to get it. Everyone who has insurance will get stronger protections. And the fewer than 5 percent of Americans who buy insurance on their own will get new options with better coverage—often at a better price.
That is the promise of the Affordable Care Act, and I intend to deliver on it. Finishing the job of reforming our broken health care system will not be easy. But it will be worth it. And I will work with anyone on any idea to make this law perform even better.
Thank you, again, for writing. To learn more about the law, how it affects you, and how to sign up for coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace, visit www.HealthCare.gov or call 1‑800‑318‑2596. To learn how to enroll in person, visit www.LocalHelp.HealthCare.gov.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
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Healthcare Summit
New York Health Act- the bill that would guarantee healthcare to every New York resident. There are lots of reasons to support universal, single-payer healthcare in New York.
Healthcare is a Human Right! Together, we can make universal healthcare a reality in New York.
By passing the New York Health Act, we can guarantee that all New Yorkers will have quality healthcare regardless of income, race, or place of work. We are organizing in every corner of the state. Indicate below how you would like to help out!
Join the Nurses Health & Safety Campaign (NHSC)
You will have opportunities to make a difference by making the voice of nursing heard. You can:
- Join a rally
- Sign a petition
- Visit your legislators
- Attend a hearing
The Nurses Health & Safety Campaign (NHSC) will let you know how you can advocate for:
- Nurse-to-patient staffing ratios
- Workplace violence prevention
- Safe patient handling
- Infectious diseases protection, and more
Health Care Reform: What's Next?
- What is the future of healthcare in NY?
- How will changes in health care affect your family?
- What health care options are best for our community?
- Integration of behavioral health and primary care under DSRIP, New York's $8 billion Medicaid reform effort.
Learn more about our health care system and how you can get involved in changing it for the better.
Discussion led by Martha Livingston, Professor and Chair of the Public Health department at SUNY College at Old Westbury, Vice-Chair of the Board
of Directors of the New York Metro chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Public Health Policy, Member of the Steering Committee of the Labor Campaign for Single
Payer Health Care, longtime resident of Flushing, New York, and serious New York Mets.
Questions?
Contact: Peace & Social Action Committee of the @Religious Society of Friends at flushingfriends@gmail.com or (929) 251-4301.
Campaign for Nurse Driven Healthcare Solutions
The Nursing Office.Com supports Nurse Driven Healthcare Solutions which are programs, services and other initiatives designed by nurses either individually or collectively as an organization, with the main goal of directly or indirectly improving, promoting, and maintaining community and public health as well as those initiatives influencing the future of nursing profession and healthcare in general, (Read more)
In recognition and special appreciation to nurses who have gone beyond their personal and professional duties to extend to their communities and make a difference through their special ways, The Nursing Office proudly presents:
SPECIAL FEATURE
The Passage
Senen Cabalfin: Finding the Path to Special Care Community Services
By Myrna D. Santos, MSN, RN
The story behind Senen Cabalfin’s Special Care Community Services exemplifies how advance practice through education, clinical expertise and caring lead to effective healthcare delivery. Academic advancement prepared her to conceptualize her idea, master the process of business development, find the keywords and pass through state and healthcare guidelines, integrating research and grant proposals. Her clinical experience as a nurse gave her edge to the dynamics of the system and her caring came genuinely and naturally as a given.
Making a difference has motivated Senen to follow her passion for nursing and find her niche in the healthcare system, not only as a leader but as an entrepreneur. It was not an easy task. The process has numerous challenges and breaking through the legal, financial and political barriers, however, it did not discourage her to give up on her mission and vision to a healthier community and influence the practice of nursing.
There is no shortcut formula for your professional success, the challenges are always there. Let us accept these challenges and be a part of healthcare solutions. Find your niche, find your passion, strengthen yourself, commit yourself to make a difference, and you shall if not will. Nurses are the future of healthcare and you are the future of nursing. Let the passage lead you and take this challenge onward to a new century of nursing excellence.
December 11, 2012
Special Needs Housing Holds Groundbreaking in Marlboro
Mobility Special Care Housing, Inc. is first to purchase a home in Marlboro under the Affordable Housing Trust Funds Special Needs Housing Partnership
MARLBORO TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY (December 11, 2012) – Mobility Special Care Housing, Inc. will hold a groundbreaking ceremony commemorating its first Special Needs Housing project in Marlboro. The ceremony will be held on December 13, 2012 from 2:00 to 3:00pm at 8 Center St, Morganville, NJ 07751.
In the spring of 2012, Governor Chris Christie, DHS-DDD and NJHFMA announced a Special Needs Housing Partnership which was designed to support the placement of people with special needs in local residences to foster their life to the fullest potentials and enhance their quality of life. Municipalities with unspent affordable housing trust balances were actively encouraged by State officials to commit funds to the initiative.
DDD and NJHFMA provided a mechanism to fund this project including the interim financing of $250,000, which is anticipated to be replaced by local Affordable Housing Trust funds as they become available. Mayor Jon Hornik and the Marlboro Township Council participated in this initiative by adopting Resolution 2012-142 authorizing a Memorandum of Understanding approving a $1.75 M contribution to the special needs housing partnership. The funds have yet to be approved for release by the Council on Affordable Housing.
Mobility Special Care Housing, Inc. (MSCH) is the first special needs housing developer to purchase a home in Marlboro under the Special Needs Housing Partnership. MSCH was founded as the result of a partnership between Mobility Consulting and Contracting headed by Mr. Jeff Wolf, a qualified home developer and Special Care Community Services, Inc. headed by Ms. Senen Cabalfin, RN, MSN, a qualified service provider, both residents of Marlboro.
“I am very pleased that MSCH was able to arrange funding to finance this project as we await the release of the Affordable Housing trust funds.” said Mayor Hornik. “The ability to keep adult, special needs children close to home is of paramount importance to our residents.”
This home will be renovated to provide accessibility for four individuals with disabilities. MSCH will search, purchase, modify, build and manage each residence.
The National Anthem will be sung by Tiffany Viray. Speakers will include Jeff Wolf, MSCH President, Senen Cabalfin, RN,MSN, MSCH Vice President, Mayor Jonathan Hornik, Ms. Janel Winter, DDD, Director of Housing Development and other representatives from the Department of Developmental Disabilities. The press and the public are invited to attend this event.
A critical thinking in Community Health
Hi all, just sharing and hoping I'll get some feedback. During the last 2 missions, I never met the local doctors in Toboso. We were blessed to have Dr.Orlee Barairo's steadfast support on both missions ( I still owe him a Littmann cardiology stethoscope) ;). In those 2 years there has been 2 different doctors assigned in the clinic. On our first mission the doctor was not keen on participating since it was her day off. On our second mission the doctor was attending a conference. I guess our schedules were not meant to coincide.
In my humble opinion, short-term medical missions are really not as effective as it may seem. If we base the contribution of short-term missions in terms of change in the incidence and prevalence of disease, their effectiveness is highly questionable. Medical missions often involve poor methodology since there is no time for proper diagnostics or follow-up. Focus tends to be on short-term curative methods, not on training and community change. Popping pills seems to be the highlight rather than emphasis on preventive care.
We need to have a thorough discussion with the healthcare providers in Toboso and form an effective partnering to come up with long-term strategy/planning on how to best provide and meet the basic healthcare of the indigenous population. I'm hoping that with the presence of our highly qualified TEA chapter leaders, we will be able to have a brainstorming meeting with those involved in planning and implementation. Meanwhile, Escalante is self-sufficient when it comes to meeting the healthcare needs of its population. This city has its own hospital and requires minimal assistance.
Gretha Fievre, MSN, RN
Gretha Fievre was born in St. Marc, Haiti. From a very young age, Gretha knew that her life’s work would be dedicated to helping others.
She immigrated to New York as a young woman in 1971. Not long after arriving in this new country, Gretha became a Licensed Practical Nurse. While working as an LPN and caring for elderly people she discovered that nursing was her true calling – a way to provide a compassionate caring touch to people in need.
Today, on her way to a doctorate degree, she has responded to the call of her country after the devastating Earthquake of 2009.
http://heal-haiti.org/about-heal-haiti/about-the-president/
Corazon "Chad" Gatchalian, CRNA
A Mission of Caring and Ministry through the Lady of Mary Vailankanni
She ministers the sick through spiritituality and faith on Our Lady of Vailankanni, by bringing the statue of the Virgin Mary in people's homes. She has come a long
way in spreading the words about The Lady of Good Health among nurses. Her dedication to this Mission is unsurpassed and have rightfully earned her title of "Mary Chad".
American Healthcare: What is really the problem?
Enactment of a national law has not solved the healthcare crisis:
- Healthcare costs for American families have doubled in the past nine years.
- Medical bills account for more than 60 % of personal bankruptcies.
- Big insurance giants deny more than one-fourth of all claims.
- More employers are dropping or reducing health coverage and shifting more costs to employees.
- Growing numbers of people delay basic medical care, waiting until they arrive in overcrowded emergency rooms.
- Children are showing symptoms of diseases long associated with adults.
The Other side of America
While the world remembers America as the “land of milk and honey”, the champion of democracy, a super power, and a big brother to the world; its internal socio-economic problems on housing, hunger, healthcare, education and jobs, give a picture that is almost close to the third world:
- One in five children lives in poverty.
- Nearly 700,000 homes were foreclosed (in the first quarter of 2011 alone)
- Homelessness, substandard housing hunger and near hunger exist in every American city
- Some 15 % of US households, 17.4 million families or about 50 million people were too poor to buy adequate food last year (US Department of Agriculture)
- More than a third of these households, with as many as one million children were missing meals on a regular basis
(Source: www.mainstreetcontract.org )
Main Street Contract for the American People
National Nurses United (NNU) has embarked on a campaign to reverse national priorities and policies that have placed the interests of Wall Street over the crisis facing American families today. The goal is to chart a new contract for the American people, for a better life today and a more secure future for our children and future generations.
The key provisions:
- Jobs at living wages for everyone
- Guaranteed healthcare for all
- A secure retirement with the ability to retire in dignity
- Equal access to a quality education
- Good housing and protection from hunger
- A just taxation system where corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share
The Nursing Office.Com has joined this national campaign as it unveils its program on Nurse Driven Healthcare Solutions basically to reduce healthcare cost and deliver healthcare to communities through massive Public Health Education.
Nurses Role in Healthcare
Nurses have long fought for a more humane healthcare system based on individual patient need, not ability to pay. More than ever, nurses play a major role on issues of healthcare providing solutions for a healthier tomorrow. We are gaining significant momentum as professionals. This is indeed a compliment and empowerment to us and yet on the other hand, a call of a challenge to us in caring for the American people as well as the international community. How big and how important can this challenge be? Do we have an answer for that? Yes, we do, and yes, we will!
As the new Healthcare Reform Act take effect, The Nursing Office.Com takes the challenge to promote solutions that are based on the evidence and actual experiences of nurses who are behind the scenes of healthcare. It is the time for us to come forward and be in charge of a domain that is always, and rightfully, ours. We have managed through those years, though it was not recognized. This time, we will take the responsibility and leadership to show our wisdom. We will stand up and define our roles. We will no longer be in the background but rather, we will be visible as we walk our talk. We will re-think why it failed and why we need reforms. We will come up with our own nurse driven solutions, initiatives and programs to support a massive change in our healthcare so that we may deliver affordable healthcare to the American people and to the international community.
US Healthcare Reform
Why we need Health Care Reforms
Rising healthcare costs, increasing numbers of uninsured and underinsured individuals and disparities in healthcare access and quality have created an emerging national consensus that the health care system is failing and is no longer sensitive to the needs of the American people in this current state of economy and hence, must be reformed. Any solution must involve ensuring that the supply of nurses is adequate to make universal access to care a reality.
These kinds of reforms have to come from the legislative order, however, nursing organizations, health care coalitions, the media and other civic participants and stakeholders need to be involved in the process of finding facts and designing a resolution that is truly viable.
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Health Care Bill Passes the House
November 7, 2009
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a massive overhaul of the American health care system Saturday night by a vote of 220 to 215.
The $1.3 trillion-dollar bill would require individuals to buy health insurance, and would also require medium and large businesses to provide it to their employees. Consumers would be able to buy their insurance on an exchange, which would include a public insurance option for people who do not have access to insurance through their jobs. Low- and middle-income families would receive government subsidies to purchase insurance, which would be paid for through tax increases on individuals making more than $500,000 per year, as well as fees on medical providers. The bill would prohibit insurance companies from dropping or denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions or cost of care.
The bill would also reduce drug costs for seniors, prevent insurance companies from charging women more than men for the same coverage, and would allow young adults to stay on their parents' insurance until their 27th birthdays.
In a statement late Saturday, President Barack Obama thanked the House for its work in passing health care reform and said he is "confident" the Senate will follow suit, adding, "I look forward to signing comprehensive health insurance reform into law by the end of the year."
Source: www.aol.com 11/07/09