| Karen Shore, Ph.D. | Rescue Health Day is Coming April 1, 2000
Every once in a while a special event affords millions of Americans the opportunity to simultaneously register their concerns and their demands for change. On Rescue Health Care Day, April 1, 2000, Americans can join together to register a “Vote of No Confidence” in corporate managed care and learn from a national dialogue on alternatives. The ultimate goal is to replace managed care with a more pro-patient, pro-quality system. As you know, the managed care industry has taken control over the consumer’s choice of clinician and facility, has damaged medical privacy, and has abrogated control over treatment decisions, leaving both consumers and clinicians with far less say in such decisions. Further, many clinicians feel that they have either been given incentives to under-treat patients, have been coerced into spending far too little time with patients, or been made economically dependent on managed care organizations (MCOs) because the MCOs control the flow of patients to clinicians. Because of this economic dependency and the ability of MCOs to expel clinicians from networks or stop referrals, many clinicians risk their livelihood by advocating for their patients against the managed care companies. Further, unconscionable sums of money are now going to corporate and shareholder profit and executive income. Quality has declined in many areas, and in many disciplines, students are being trained by the bottom line, impersonal principles of industrialized health care, encouraging them to miss or lose sight of the sensitivities and needs of the human beings they will treat and the complex problems patients will bring to them. Mental health care has been hit terribly hard by this industry. According to a study by the Hay Group, between 1987 and 1997, the industry cut medical spending by 7%, but cut mental health spending by 54%. For our own health and that of our loved ones, we must replace managed care with a better system, and this is what our Coalition has tried to do since our birth seven years ago. Rescue Health Care Day, initiated by the National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers and cosponsored by Physicians Who Care is intended to change American health care. RHCD will be a day in which Americans can a) declare a national “Vote of No Confidence” in corporate managed care, b) demand the development of a more pro-patient, pro-quality system of insurance, and c) to create a national dialogue on alternatives so as to educate ourselves about the many different ideas and alternatives to managed care that exist around the world and are just waiting to be developed. April 1 was deliberately chosen for Rescue Health Care Day because it is April Fool’s Day, and many have been fooled by the promises of managed care, like the promise of “better quality at lower cost.” RHCD will feature Teach-Ins on April 1 in cities across America. Speakers from a variety of political perspectives will discuss why we must replace managed care and possible alternatives to managed care. Organizations holding Teach-Ins will also be encouraged to invite speakers and/or have “open mikes” at which consumers can share their managed care “horror stories.” All present at a Teach-In will also observe a “Minute of Silence” at noon. Participating organizations are encouraged to organize their own Teach-In and use it as they wish without control by the cosponsors. They may use it to either invite speakers from different political perspectives or to promote their own ideas for alternative systems. Participating organizations that may not be able to organize a Teach-In are encouraged to organize a local “Hour of Protest” from 11:30 - 12:30 on April 1st. At an Hour of Protest site (permits will likely be needed), citizens can peacefully demonstrate their lack of confidence in managed care and express their desire for a better system. Those gathered at an Hour of Protest site will also observe the Minute of Silence at noon. In addition, any citizen, wherever he or she may be (at the mall, at home, at school, at work, at play, etc.) can observe the Minute of Silence by standing silently at noon wherever they are, holding or wearing some sign of their wish for a better quality system. The Minute of Silence across America at noon will mark the decline in quality care and the harm done to patients by managed care companies, including those who have had needed services denied or impeded and those who have died or committed suicide because of managed care decisions and practices. So far, people are organizing RHCD events in Los Angeles, Columbus, Albany (NY), New York City, Long Island, Washington DC, San Jose (CA), New Jersey, Austin and Denver. The Los Angeles Teach-In is being called “Blow the Whistle on Managed Care.” Attendees will be supplied with whistles, and after each consumer tells a story about how he/has been harmed, the audience will “blow the whistle on managed care.” This theme is attracting media interest. Long Island is using this theme as well. In Austin, an Hour of Protest (11:30 - 12:30) will be held on the steps of the Texas State Capitol Building. If you want to attract the nation’s attention and sweep them into the mood for revolution, help plan a RHCD event for April 1st. We need each person who really cares to volunteer to help with this effort to raise awareness in the population, in legislatures, and in the business community that we must replace managed care with something better. We must take responsibility ourselves and lead the movement for change. Congress will not lead, but it will follow. You can start observing and spreading word of RHCD now by wearing a green ribbon. Green is the color of new life in spring. The green ribbon symbolizes the hope for new life in health care and the hope for a new and better system of health insurance. As of this writing (November 1999), there are over 120 consumer and professional organizations that have signed on to RHCD. These organizations come from medicine, nursing, mental health, elder care, disability consumer groups, law and other areas. Included among the list of Supporters of RHCD from mental health are the American Psychological Association as well as five of its Divisions and fifteen State Psychological Associations (AZ, CA, CT, MA, MI, MN, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TX), the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the National Association of Social Workers, and the Clinical Social Work Federation. From the medical community, Physicians Who Care, the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, and several other organizations have signed on. From the consumer community, we have New York State’s chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the NYS Association of Health Care Consumers, the National Gray Panthers, and many more. In addition, Rep. Ruth B. Balser (Mass. House of Representatives), U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), members of the U.S. House of Representatives Jim McDermott (D-WA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Ted Strickland (D-OH), and Minnesota’s Attorney General, Mike Hatch, have all signed on. Also, Rabbi Harold Kushner (“When Bad Things Happen to Good People”) recently signed on to RHCD. Help us create a groundswell. Please help us and do your part to change America for the better through RHCD. First, obtain our information about RHCD from the RHCD website (www.rescuehealthcareday.com) or from the Coalition’s office at 1-888-SAY-NO-MC). Then, here is how you can help: 1. Make a financial contribution. We recently hired a professional public relations expert to help us break into the national media. We are also creating a short video that we want to distribute to the media, consumer groups, members of Congress, and those who are organizing April 1st events. Thousands of dollars are needed to do these things. WE do not have thousands of dollars. We are counting on YOU. Do you want us to get rid of managed care for you? Please do all you can to help us. Please join the Coalition if you are not already a member (1-888-SAY-NO-MC) or www.NoManagedCare.org, or NCMHPC@aol.com). Become a Supporter of RHCD (obtain materials and Response Form from us at 1-888-SAY-NO-MC or RHCD website at www.rescuehealthcareday.com. Send a generous check to the Coalition at NCMHPC, P. O. Box 438, Commack, NY 11725. Do it today! You are greatly needed, and every dollar will be tremendously appreciated. We are doing great things. Great things cost money. Help make great things happen. 2. Shop at our website (http://www.rescuehealthcareday.com). We have dozens of merchants linked to our site who will give us a piece of each sale — sometimes as much as 15%! This is an effortless way to help us raise funds! To help us financially while you shop, sign onto our website first, and find the merchants you want at our site. Some of the merchants you can get to through our website are: Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, e-Toys, Hammacher Schlemmer, Travelocity, Green Marketplace, Great Coffe, Great Food, Petsmart, Priceline.com, Staples, uBid.com, ValueAmerica.com, 1-800-FLOWERS, Drugstore.com, Omaha Steaks, the Museum of Modern Art store, Car Prices, and more. 3. If you have media contacts, please use them to help us get RHCD into the national or local media. There have been a few articles so far, but now is when we need a major effort. 4. Obtain our materials and send them, with a cover letter, to your legislators and to organizations to which you belong, or to someone you know who is active in an organization (consumer and professional organizations from all areas of health care, such as medicine, law, nursing, mental health, chiropractic, dentistry, physical rehabilitation, podiatry, pharmacy, etc.), and ask them to sign on to RHCD and consider participating in it. 5. Volunteer to organize a Teach-In, an Hour of Protest, to distribute flyers to clinicians so that they can copy them and place them in their offices. A “RHCD Tool Box” explaining how to organize these events is available from our office. With your help, we will create significant, positive change in America’s health care system.
Karen Shore, Ph.D.,President, National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers. PO Box 438, Commack, NY 11725 1-888-SAY-NO-MC |
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