Health Care update - August/September

The Health Care Committee (HCC) has yet to get underway for fall 2025--but we're eager to hear from LWVA members.  We are ALWAYS looking for new members.  Join US.  We have plenty of initiatives that need to start up again--or if you have a Health Care story that needs some action taken, come share it and let's see what we can team up on for it.

Meanwhile, the HCC is working on a project from last year with the LWV national Health Care Reform Interest Group: concurring with a new addition to the LWVUS Privatization position (in good part to pursue DE-privatizing or maintain the public status of a health care unit).  Our goals are explained in the 2021 book, the Privatization of Everything.

This year, instead of trying to convince the national League to take a particular action, we want to adopt the position (from another state) at the local Amherst level (that is, add it to our LWVA Program Book).  That way, we will have standing to take action to protect local health care facilities threatened by corporate or private equity hostile takeovers.  (Maybe we can convince the Northampton League to do the same.). One recent example in the news is the push by outsiders (or now the federal administration) to privatize the VA(in Leeds).  Their misleading term is "expand community services" by which they mean, to take functions away from the BEST health care in the US (when it is not being defunded) and letting private companies make a profit off them, even though the track record from such contracts is dismal. 

We're on secure footing for the substance of the issue, but are facing a learning curve for the process to get it done.

Barbara Pearson, chair