What's Next?
As we’ve noted before, the $575,000 legislative appropriation for Health Security planning and design goes to the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance.
So what's next? The next step for the Campaign is to work with Rep. Armstrong and Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino to set up a meeting with the Superintendent's office to discuss the Health Security planning and design process—and to ensure that the process is transparent and includes public input.
This is an exciting new phase for Health Security. Advocacy and education will still be the Campaign's focus, but with special attention on the specifics of how to create our own health plan. This may sound complicated, but all of us have personal experience with the current dysfunctional system!
At this stage, we all need to think about how we would like the critical provisions of the Health Security Plan to be designed—provisions that will allow easy access to comprehensive coverage, ensure choice of health care provider, address the needs of those from rural and underinsured areas of the state, and simplify what has become a complex and costly approach to health care.
A New Zoom Series
To provide you with the information and background you'll need to evaluate the best approaches to achieve these design goals, we'll be offering a new interactive Zoom series on various design options for some of the key provisions of the Health Security Plan. We'll be inviting outside guests who are knowledgeable about these issues and about different ways to build our own health plan.
This is a challenging task—and a great opportunity. To succeed, we'll need your involvement and input to ensure the best possible outcome for our state.
We'll keep you posted on the latest developments and our new Zoom series.