June 2011 mailing
The next CPHS meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 6th, 2011, at 6:30 pm at the Urban Justice Center, 123 William Street, 16th floor. The agenda will include: city budget cuts and action needed; what's new in health reform implementation; and figuring out the damages wrought by the Medicaid Redesign Team – the Governor's task force on Medicaid.
Some Updates:
On the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT): CPHS is working with the Save Our Safety Net – Campaign (SOS-C) to influence the work of this body. There was supposed to be a meeting this month but it got cancelled and has not yet been rescheduled. SOS-C gathered names of people to nominate to subcommittees of the MRT and also proposed new members for the overall "Team" to try to ensure racial and ethnic representation, and community voices that were missing. SOS-C sent a three-page memo to the Governor's office and members of the MRT recommending the names, but also some very serious ways to improve the public process of the MRT. There were public hearings – but with only two minutes for each person to speak the final result did not reflect what the public was saying. The leadership of the MRT has now announced that because of their MRT budget follow-up work and the end of the legislative session, they will be limiting the work right now to three subcommittees: Managed Long Term Care and Waiver; Behavioral Health Reform; Program Streamlining and State and Local Responsibilities. Please see the MRT web site for implementation:
http://health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign
CPHS has also been working with the City Council to get support for a resolution on the MRT, sponsored by Councilmember Rosie Mendez. With these actions, the City Council would raise concerns about the impact of the proposals and actions of the MRT on medically underserved, low-income, immigrant and communities of color in the city. They would also raise concern about the impact of the MRT actions on the public health and hospital system – the Health and Hospitals Corporation.
The last CPHS meeting was held as a hearing in Brooklyn on Medicaid and the impact on the health care safety net. We are now working with The Bronx Health Link which is planning a forum in the Bronx – which will be held on Wednesday, June 15th at 6 pm at Lincoln Hospital. (See enclosed) Please do join us – it is important to know what is going on and for people to share their experiences and concerns with us. Please let us know if you are able to attend.
City Budget: As we all know, the Mayor has proposed his Executive Budget which is all cuts and no new revenues. Public Health services are hurt by these cuts. The City Council is right now bringing in all of the city agencies and asking questions about the budget. There will be a public hearing on all areas of the Mayor's budget on Monday, June 6th at 3:30 pm at the Emigrant Bank located at 49-51Chambers Street (near City Hall). Lots of voices are needed to ensure that public health services don't get lost when it comes time for the City Council to restore funding. Budget negotiations are probably already underway, but will pick up in earnest and intensity right after the June 6th Public Hearing. The People's Budget Coalition for Public Health is coordinating testimony on public health programs. Please contact Mary Li at CPHS for more information. Let us know if you would like to testify and we can provide information to help write your testimony. See the attached flier.
As well, we do not believe that education people, or youth services people, or health people should be fighting each other to get dollars back in there are of the budget. It is important to stand together and let the Mayor along with the City Council know that we believe that there is money that could be available to fund all of the services and jobs that we need. There are several ways that we can do this: we know that the city spends hundreds of millions of dollars on contracting out and there have been recent scandals about lots of money gone missing. There is also revenue to be had by taxing "millionaires" to have them pay their fair share so that we don't have to see the services in our communities shredded and more jobs lost because of cuts in funding to vital programs. There are several organizing efforts going on which we can all join to put out this very important message. CPHS is urging everyone to join us in a FIGHTBACK RALLY sponsored by DC 37, on Tuesday, June 14th at 4:30 pm near City Hall – Broadway and Barclay Streets. See the enclosed flier. Let us know if you will join us at this rally.
