LWV BILL TO STRENGTHEN VOTING RIGHTS AND VOTER CONFIDENCE IS NOW LAW! On September 19, 2006 Governor Romney signed into law the “Strengthening Voting Rights and Voter Confidence” bill drafted and filed by the League of Women Voters, supported by the Co-Chairs of the Joint Committee on Election Laws and endorsed by the Secretary of the Commonwealth. This three-part law took effect immediately on signing. In brief, the law includes: § Providing a Voters’ Bill of Rights – The Secretary of the Commonwealth must provide a Voters’ Bill of Rights at every polling place, on the Secretary’s website, and in appropriate publications of the Secretary of Commonwealth. Voters must know their rights in order to protect their rights. § Expanding the Pool of Election Officers – Cities and towns are now allowed to hire poll workers who do not live in that city or town, and it allows 16 and 17 year olds to serve as poll workers, provided they satisfy certain requirements. § Ensuring the Continuing Impartiality of Administration of Elections - Elections officials at every level are prohibited from serving as campaign chair or co-chair, or treasurer for any campaign other than their own. This will remove any perception of bias among those who manage elections. THANK YOU to all League members for your work and support in this effort. It takes a team, and all League members should take pride in this success. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Single Payer Health Care Bill The Massachusetts LWV’s Health Care Committee is pleased to announce that Senator Steve Tolman and Representative Frank Hynes will file a new single payer universal health care bill for Massachusetts on January 10, 2007. WHAT THIS BILL DOES: This legislation guarantees every Massachusetts resident first class health care coverage by replacing the current patchwork of public and private health care plans with a uniform and comprehensive health plan. It creates a single public entity called the Health Care Trust to replace all the present public and private bureaucracies. WHY A SINGLE-PAYER LAW IS NEEDED: No country or community in the world has been able to even approach universal, quality health care coverage without a single-payer system. This is because having many private insurers is actually much more expensive, and creates more waste, than covering all residents under the same program. Private insurers have much higher overhead costs – so a large chunk of our premium dollars is wasted on advertising, high executive salaries, and unnecessary bureaucracy. Furthermore it costs hospitals, health centers, and physicians billions of dollars to deal with dozens of insurers, each with a different system and each imposing different requirements on health care providers. Having a single system dramatically reduces discrimination and inequalities in access to and quality of care. Disparities in the health care system have actually been growing rather than diminishing in the United States. Single-payer systems allow patients to choose from any doctor, hospital, or other provider; allow continuity of care; and promote preventive care. Almost all plans under private insurers in the United States today place severe limitations on where patients may receive care. What’s more, when residents change jobs, they will often be forced to change provider as well – undermining “continuity of care,” which medical professionals consider crucial. Most importantly, single payer systems allow all residents access to preventative care, which helps to catch dangerous conditions at an early stage and saves money in the long run. HOW DOES THE HEALTH CARE TRUST RELATE TO THE RECENTLY ENACTED MASSACHUSETTS HEALTH CARE LAW? The recently passed law attempts to address only one element of the health care crisis: the uninsured. However, over 75% of Americans who have trouble paying their medical bills have health insurance. Medical costs account for over half of personal bankruptcies in the country – and most of these households had health insurance at the time they ran into health problems. Skyrocketing costs are destroying municipal and state budgets, while both employers and workers are being asked to pay more than they can afford just to keep their coverage. Seniors pay an extraordinary percentage of their income on medical costs not covered by Medicare. Rising costs are causing not just a growing number of uninsured, but are creating crises for families, governments, and employers across the state that do pay for some form of insurance. Similar bills attempting to cover the uninsured have had little success in shrinking the uninsured population, because rising health care costs make this so expensive. Without the sort of cost controls that a single payer system brings, it will be extremely difficult to slow the crisis of the uninsured, the underinsured, and the employers and residents breaking the bank to pay for quality insurance. SUPPORT FOR THE BILL: Massachusetts voters have consistently supported a universal single payer health care system with state and local referendum votes in 1986, 1994, 1998, 1999, and 2000. The Massachusetts Medical Society has strongly recommended a system such as proposed by the Health Care Trust as a viable solution to the health care crisis. Over 90 organizations in the state have formally endorsed the Mass. Health Care Trust bill, including the AARP, the Latin American Health Institute, the MA Coalition for the Homeless, MA Jobs with Justice, the MA Nurses Association, the MA Public Health Association, MA Senior Action Council, the MA Teachers Association, the National Assoc. of Social Workers, Physicians for a National Health Program, the Service Employees International Union, UNITE-HERE, the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, and the Women’s Health Institute.