Called to order 7:08 PM.

MEMBERS ATTENDING: Steve Blesofsky, Debby Blumer, Nancy Coville Wallace, Jerry Desilets, Barbara Gray, Mathew Helman, Donna Howland, Chris Lorant, Dave Magnani, Barbara Magovsky, Stephanie Mercandetti, Terene Micciche, Betty Muto, Joan Rastani, Chris Ross, Marulyn Safian, Norma Shulman, John Stefanini, Cheryl Tully Stoll, Parwez Wahid.
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS ATTENDING: Bob Edwards, Rochelle Sivan, Karen Spilka.
OTHERS: Toni Serafini, Steve Joyce, Rosemary Fletcher, T.H. O’Neil.
MINUTES (Norma Shulman): Minutes of Feb. 22 approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT – no report this month
ANNOUNCEMENTS
… Kerry fundraiser 4/4/04 at 4:00 at Karen Spilka’s.
… Blumer pre-election party at Noscot Café 3-5 3/28.
… Barbara Gray’s farewell gathering 4/4 3-5 at The Barn.
… Dave Magnani has announced he is not running for another term in the State Senate. We owe Dave a tremendous debt for over 20 years of public service – a friend as well as a legislator. Barbara Gray is also leaving town, moving to the west coast. Not only Framingham, but the whole Commonwealth has benefited from her efforts. The best thing that happened to her and us was when she became a Democrat…and she will come back to keep an eye on us. Steve remembered when she was not a Democrat, but she knew the landscape and how to get things done. And we will miss this skill and will miss her. John Stefanini added that two wonderful people and two friends are moving on. It is important for us to remember those 22 years of Dave’s service. We had an event for Barbara when she retired from the legislature and raised money for a charity. Maybe in Sept. we can have a similar event for Dave.
… Congratulations to all the people elected to the DTC in March.
… We have the chair of the Natick DTC Theresa Toowey and Frank Volpe of Natick present.
… Election of officers is at our next meeting 4/18. The current four offices are open for nominations. Let Steve know if you are interested.
… Bob Edwards reported that he is now working with Health Care For All.
… The State Convention is May 8 in Amherst. There will be a May 23 DTC meeting.
… Karen announced that they are compiling the MW volunteers team for the national convention. They will get her the list of people who have signed up. Debby is still getting calls from people who want to sign up.
… Bob Cassidy is here from State Committee. Congratulated John Stefanini on his new position with a nationally known law firm. John S noted that we have an opportunity of a lifetime – we have a lot of connections to people who are in the Democratic presidential campaign. We should all be engaged in the Kerry campaign. Donna – getting involved is critical, how do we do it effectively? John S – What is your level of commitment of time? For locally based, work on the convention? Connecticut and Maine are important states for this campaign if you want to do some campaign work in those. Maine divides its 4 electoral votes. MA is winner-take-all. For more traveling, try OH, MN, PA, NY – all are in play. Chris L suggested to go to www.johnkerry.com and see the Kerry Traveler program, also go to the office in Boston on Canal Street. 617-367-1551. Bob Cassidy went to MN, Humphrey’s grandson was happy to see them – a very important state that is in play.
… Dave arrived to a standing ovation. He encouraged all to sign up for our convention volunteers’ yahoo group: MetrowestAlliance04 on yahoo.com. If you haven’t signed up, do so. Point people are Karen, Debby, Dave. Go to www.Boston04.com to sign up and tell them you are part of MetrowestAlliance04 team. Dave plans to be involved for a long time. He expects that this seat will remain democratic. It is an honor to be involved with this DTC – extraordinary Democrats. We have a chance to change the world.
… Mat Helman brought literature for his school commitee campaign.
… Valerie has new Vote signs – made at Keefe tech part of the Votes project.
… LWV is sponsoring a candidates’ night.
Program: Health Care Insurance for Mass – Constitutional Initiative Petition
DISCLAIMER: These notes of the program are snippets of what was said. The numbers and other facts are as accurate as I could get while trying to capture as many of the points as possible. This is not intended as a transcript – only as an attempt to share the general discussion for those who missed it.
AIM was not able to attend, but will send up their testimony in opposition to the petition.
Barbara Waters Roop, Chair of the committee.
1. Everyone in MA should get the health care they need.
2. Affordable comprehensive insurance is the way to get them this care.
The idea is to create an enforceable right through a constitutional amendment.
They got 90,000,000 signatures in 7 weeks. Students, health care workers, retirees, etc., collected these signatures.
We need to reform our health care system.
There are more people in MA without insurance than there are people in the city of Boston.
Many people pay more than 10% of their income on health care.
This amendment would require MA to find a way to provide access to affordable insurance.
The state has cut thousands of low income children and adults from health care.
This is not a luxury; it is a necessity. We already pay for the uninsured’s health care through our tax dollars. It’s time for action. Just like the guarantee in our constitution provides public education, we need the same for health care. It is a moral imperative, but it is also just plain smart.
MA was once a leader in expanding access to health care, but not now. They chose the ballot to move this issue along. They need the 50 votes in the constitutional convention, and then in the next constitutional convention. The voters can make this happen when it gets on the ballot.
Why opposition? Some say because it doesn’t specify the solution. But the committee feels that they need to establish the process to get this going. AIM and the Mass Retailers are concerned that there could be an employer mandate.
Concern was expressed about not having any solutions on the ballot. But it is premature to start doing this before the constitutional convention.
Comment about knowing people who had access only to the emergency room – and it costs all of us. What of the other states that are moving in this direction. HI has employer-based sort-of universal system.
Tom O’Neil mentioned he worked on this issue some time ago (with Barbara Gray). The constitutional convention process is long. Shouldn’t the legislature do something NOW? Answer – the legislature is burned out on this issue. And different groups have different priorities.
How is it going to be funded? What it would cost and how it is funded will have to be made down the road? Could be private payments, public funded, or a mix.
Debby suggested we have to look to the governor’s office for leadership on this. Right now we see the reverse of this. We are cutting services. So this would bring the issue of universal health care coverage to the forefront.
They think they have the 50 votes.
Barbara was the only Republican who voted for universal health care under Dukakis. This year several of the leading senators are under attack by the Governor. For this issue it is important that we don’t lose any Democratic senate seats.
Steve J mentioned that in an industry where people are coming in and out from other states, this looks so vague, how can you sell something so broad without a funding mechanism?
John S mentioned that the model the health care committee (when he was chair) looked at was a “here’s the goal now you figure out the rest”. This puts a pressure cooker together, making them put the groups together and do it. He thinks this is a good strategy. If the voters support it, there will be a timeline and will have to come up with a plan. For 5 years he sponsored the single-payer bill and then they had it as a target to attack.
Karen said without this push, it will keep getting put off. If it was too specific – like clean election – people kept trying to change the specifics.
Betty – asked about the statement that the money to pay is already in the system. Where? It is being spent now on health care. 39% of every health care dollar now goes to administration.
Bob asked about Mass Health Dental – what is the option of restoring it? There have been a lot of cuts since Weld.
Question about BCBS being so profitable. Answer – In fact there are ways to do this without costing the taxpayers a dime. Maybe we could ask for a discount plan from profitable insurance companies where we could share the costs from the uninsured care pool. BCBS is a quasi-public corporation.
Are there any states that we could use as a model? Maine has recently put together a state-wide insurance pool. CA has an employer mandate that is now in the courts. And others.
Archie commented on the cost to the Town for health insurance., and how it is going up so much. At some point it’s going to break the bank. Whether you are a city or business or individual, it is going up so much. Answer – Are we going to have inflation on quality, good value care, or inflation on the huge administrative costs and poor value care? Compare the cost of good prenatal care at $400 to the cost of one premie’s care at $400,000. We all pay every time an uninsured person walks into the hospital.
Currently it’s a really stressful system for the health care professionals. That’s why many have signed this petition.
We don’t publish the health care data that most other countries do.
Committee for Health Care for Mass: June for the constitutional convention this year, and then again in 2005-2006, on ballot in Nov., 2006. www.healthcareformass.org
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Adjourned at 8:55 PM.