ABOUT US

Vision Statement

The Maryland Women's Coalition for Health Care Reform envisions a state and nation where everyone has accessible, affordable, comprehensive, and high quality health care.

Mission Statement

The Maryland Women's Coalition for Health Care Reform is an alliance of women and women's organizations working to bring comprehensive health care to the residents of Maryland. In our state, where approximately 1.6 million people are either uninsured or under-insured, the Coalition advocates for reforms that will provide everyone with affordable, accessible, high quality health care that is always there.

The Problem

Women are the guardians of children's and family health as well as the caretakers of the sick, disabled, and elderly in our neighborhoods and communities. We are concerned about the hardships faced by far too many of us who cannot see a doctor when we are sick. Women are often unfairly burdened by the current health system because: (1) we work in low paying jobs with no health benefits; (2) we hold part-time jobs without any coverage; (3) we are single mothers with dependent children who are ineligible for Medicaid; and (4) we work in small businesses that cannot afford to provide health insurance. Some 365,000 uninsured women in Maryland are affected by one or more of these problems.

The Solution

Women across Maryland want, need, and will work for a health care system that provides comprehensive, affordable, accessible, high quality health care for themselves, their families, and their communities based on the Coalition's Principles. The Maryland Women's Coalition for Health Care Reform organizes women and women's organizations to be a force for health care change for the state's residents. The Coalition provides its members with information about legislation, policy, and programs that bring us closer to our goal of achieving comprehensive health care. In turn, members alert thousands of women across the state about actions they can take to advance the health care reform we seek.

Women, working together, can make Maryland a national leader in achieving health care that is always there for everyone!

Agenda

The Maryland Women's Coalition for Health Care Reform agenda:

• Create and promote an annual list of priorities for health care reform based upon the Coalition's Principles
• Organize and recruit women and women's organizations throughout Maryland
• Inform its Members and Friends about health care reform issues, relevant legislation and policies
• Mobilize Members and Friends to advocate for health care reform in Maryland
  

Principles

The Maryland Women's Coalition for Health Care Reform supports the following principles to improve our health care system. In order to achieve health care reform based on these principles, the Coalition will also support interim legislation on the way to full reform.

Health care in Maryland will be:

Universal - Everyone residing in Maryland is covered for health care.

Comprehensive -- Health care includes a wide range of physical, mental, and dental health services in a variety of inpatient and outpatient settings and from a variety of providers. Health care services include wellness, preventive, primary, acute, chronic, and long term care provided over each individual's lifespan. All prescription drugs are covered.

Affordable - Costs of care do not prohibit anyone from seeking and getting care. Premiums, deductibles, and co-pays are on a sliding scale according to income and financial aid is available to low income individuals and families as needed. No one is forced to give up essential income, go into bankruptcy, or become impoverished because of personal health costs.

Accessible - Health care services are available in a variety of settings in every community, from urban specialty hospitals to rural health centers, from doctors' offices to school-based clinics, from long-term care and hospice to the home. No one has to travel long distances in order to receive appropriate and timely care.

High Quality - Health care services are uniformly of the highest standards of health and medicine for everyone. No one receives a lower standard of care due to income, race or ethnicity, gender, employment, immigration status, disability, pre-existing condition, geographic location, or any other reason.

Coordinated - Each individual who enters the health system is assured that services and treatments are planned and managed among all providers over the continuum of care for the optimum benefit of the patient's health. Care remains coordinated over the lifespan of each individual.

Patient-Centered - Our health system serves the health and wellness needs of people, not the profit margins of insurance and drug companies. The delivery of health care services will be of the highest standard and each patient will encounter comfortable, reassuring and efficient care. Transparency and patient education enables all individuals to share in their care.

Culturally Respectful - Our diverse population requires that health care meet the needs of people with differing health traditions, who speak languages other than English, and whose health needs reflect their lifelong experiences. Each individual who enters the health system is treated with the same high level of regard and caring.

Woman Centered - Health care for women takes into consideration women's specific health needs for wellness, primary and preventive care, the full range of reproductive health services, as well as long term and end of life care. Often women's needs can best be met in settings and from providers specifically designed to serve women.

Financing - Strategies for financing a universal system are based on the creative use of multiple public and private sources. These include state and federal revenues, business and payroll taxes, enrollee contributions, tobacco and alcohol taxes, Medicaid and Medicare dollars, and other dedicated revenue streams as needed. Savings and efficiencies are achieved from some of the following:

• eliminating unnecessary paperwork
• lower administrative costs
• reduced health care costs as people receive preventive care
• lower drug prices through the government negotiating with drug companies
• decreased use of emergency rooms and other costly acute care services
• reductions in fraud and waste
• use of health information technology

Maryland Women's Coalition for Health Care Reform Steering Committee

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