Health & Medicine (HMPRG)

Registration Now Open for the Eat Well, Live Well, Let's Move! National Conference June 8-9, in Chicago

Let’s help America Rethink Obesity, Nutrition and Physical Activity

Registration is now open! www.healthierchicago.org

Fast-paced and interactive, the Eat Well, Live Well, Let’s Move!
National Conference brings together Nationally-recognized speakers
to deconstruct and help rebuild America’s understanding
of obesity, nutrition and physical activity.

This array of multi-disciplinary perspectives will catalyze a lively discourse on:

Food Psychology and Physiology

Sodium

Media and Health Literacy

Social Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Health Promotion

Participants will get out of their seats with activities and interactive sessions, and the fast pace will make it the ultimate networking opportunity. The event will be punctuated with fresh, innovative and tasty meals and lively breaks.

Conference Hosts

The Eat Well, Live Well, Let’s Move! National Conference is a collaborative effort among Northwestern University, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Heart Association, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the Midwest Business Group on Health, the American Medical Association, the Chicago Department of Public Health, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Regional Health Administrator, Region V.

Who should attend?

This conference will bring together representatives from public health, academia, and the business community. A combination of interdisciplinary panels and breakouts will enhance collaboration among public, private and academic organizations at the local, regional and national level.

More Information

www.healthierchicago.org

Download Illinois PIRG's Policy Brief #4 -- the latest in Illinois PIRG’s series of policy briefs on state exchanges

Download Illinois PIRG's Policy Brief #4 -- the latest in Illinois PIRG’s series of policy briefs on state exchanges.  This brief,  Ensuring Stability and Protecting Against Adverse Selection, addresses some of the policy choices that states must get right for the exchanges to deliver lower costs and better choices.

Download Illinois PIRG Policy Brief #4

HMPRG Pleased to See Mayor-elect Emanuel and County President Preckwinkle Open to New City-County Collaborative Relationships

For a long time, Health & Medicine and others have looked to models around the country of health department collaborations and mergers as potential models for us in Cook County. Any effort to do this here should be deliberative, led by health and public health leaders in consultation with national experts. We are pleased to  see Mayor-elect Emanuel and County President Preckwinkle open to new collaborative relationships and Health and Medicine welcomes the opportunity to work with the City and the County leadership to plan for the most effective health and public health services for our residents.

Below are two video clips clips from Chicago Tonight and WNBC and articles on this development from Chicago Current, The Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, as well as two video clips from Chicago Tonight and WNBC.

NBC Video Clip and transcript:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Emanuel-Preckwinkle-Suggest-New-Approaches-to-City-County-Collaboration-118866099.html?__source=Facebook

WTTW "Chicago Tonight" Video Clip:

http://www.wttw.com/main.taf?p=42,8,80&player=Chicago-Tonight&pid=8DnWg3P_DmVWEPZDPEMjf1aCnqjLDp96

Chicago Current Article:

http://www.chicagocurrent.com/articles/31497-Preckwinkle-Emanuel-collaborate-on-saving-money

Preckwinkle, Emanuel collaborate on saving money

By Geoff Dougherty

March 29, 2011 @ 12:52 PM

Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board president Toni Preckwinkle are combining forces in an effort to save some money. 

The two established a committee today that is charged with "examining all areas of city and county operations and producing a report on how they can best work together to cut costs," a press release says.

On the committee:

• Anthony "Tony" Anderson, midwest managing partner of Ernst & Young and chairman of the board of the Chicago Urban League. 
• Gloria Castillo, president of Chicago United, an organization that brings together diverse business leaders to break down racial barriers and increase access to opportunities for people of color in the Chicago area.
• Pat Dowell, alderman, 3rd Ward
• John Fritchey, county commissioner
• Juan Salgado, CEO of Instituto del Progreso Latino, which supports Latino immigrants and their families through education, job skills training and assistance with employment opportunities.
• Paula Wolff, senior executive at Metropolis Strategies, a business and civic organization focused on policy initiatives and programs for regional action.

Chicago Sun Times Article:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/4565984-417/city-county-to-explore-collaboration.html

City, county to explore collaboration

Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Chicago Sun-Times
by Fran Spielman

The city and county could join forces on everything from health care, road maintenance and job training to administering elections under an initiative launched Tuesday that could move Chicago a step closer to metropolitan government.

United by their reform agendas and joint desire to save money and deliver services more efficiently, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and County Board President Toni Preckwinkle appointed a six-member committee to recommend ways city and county government can collaborate.

Two years ago, a Mayor Daley-appointed panel co-chaired by one of Emanuel’s transition team quarterbacks recommended that the city transfer control over city elections to County Clerk David Orr. The group also recommended that the county assume responsibility for overflow patients at city health clinics.

Those ideas will be a starting point for the new study, due back in 45 days.

“Both the county and the city have health clinics. … Discussions have begun about how we can more effectively deliver service at least cost” by merging the two, Preckwinkle said.

“The county has a board of elections and the city has a board of elections. There are a number of county elections in off-years when the city doesn’t have elections. There’s a way where it’s possible for us to save money by combining” the two, she said.

Emanuel said the new partnership won’t stop there.

Road maintenance, information technology and job training are also fertile ground for collaboration. So are education reforms that lower a sky-high drop-out rate that feeds Cook County Jail.

The only hitch is in making certain that, when the city takes over a county operation and the county assumes control of a service provided by the city, that everybody comes out even financially.

“Rather than outside think-tanks or groups recommending it, we’re leading this effort. It leads to not just a set of recommendations that then are put on the shelf, but enacted, since both of us are using our reputations and prestige in asking for this, rather than it being given to us,” the mayor-elect said.

And what about jittery city employees who view the partnership as Emanuel’s chance to reduce the city payroll?

“If you’re wedded to the past, then maybe I suppose you could get nervous. That’s not just people working [for] the city, but people who work with the city because, as this initiative shows, we’re not gonna do business as usual,” Emanuel said.

“Change and reform are coming. The voters asked for it. … I will lead an effort to bring that change — not just so we reduce jobs. … I am going to save money. I’m gonna make sure we deliver the services and ask some fundamental questions — health-care delivery being one example — of can we do something different and still get the type of services we expect, but at a lower cost.”

Chicago Tribune article:

 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-city-countycooper,0,7994532.story

Chicago, Cook County look at service consolidation

Associated Press

9:20 AM CDT, March 29, 2011

CHICAGO The city of Chicago and Cook County government are looking for ways to save money and that could mean consolidating services.

Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced a joint committee on Tuesday to study ways the two cash-strapped, sprawling governments can avoid duplicating services. The six-member committee has 45 days to finish their report.

Preckwinkle said operating as separate silos and providing overlapping services are no longer options.

Some of the areas targeted to be looked at are road maintenance, health care, information technology and election services.

Emanuel said both governments can't afford to keep doing business as usual. He will be sworn into office in May to replace retiring Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.

 

Hands of Social Security-National Call-In Day!

The Strengthen Social Security Coalition has organized a National Call-In Day to oppose all cuts to Social Security, and in-support of the Sanders/Reid Social Security Protection Amendment.  The amendment is simple: no cuts to Social Security benefits for current and future beneficiaries, and the Social Security Program should not be privatized in order to reduce the Federal Budget.

Call your Senator Today!

The Strengthen Social Security Coalition has made it easy:

1.) Call this number: 1-866-251-4044

2.) Once you call, the phone system will alert you as to which Senator they are directing you to based on where you are calling.

3.) You might get a voicemail for your Senator, or a staff-member in their office.  Simply tell them that you urge the Senator to: oppose all cuts to Social Security, and vote yes on the Sanders/Reid Social Security Protection Amendment.

4.) Take the time to call both Senators, you may have to look up one of their phone numbers, try using the U.S. Senate website by clicking here. Each phone call will only take 1-2 minutes!

Social Security is an essential component to economic security:

In retirement, and across the lifespan--for millions of Americans.  Together, we can advocate for Social Security to remain strong for years to come.

For more information on economic security issues in Illinois, visit the Health & Medicine Elder Economic Security Initiative website, or contact Kristen Pavle.

Registration Open for HMPRG's April 25th Safety Net & Health Reform Forum

Join us on Monday, April 25th for a forum, “How Safety Net Institutions Can Best Leverage Federal and State Health Reform.” This forum will examine how we might re-envision Medicaid in Illinois and how to ensure that safety net institutions are central to the implementation of health reform.

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Register Online Now!

Monday, April 25, 2011
9:30am- 3:30pm
(Morning Refreshments at 9:00am)

“How Safety Net Institutions Can Best Leverage Federal and State Health Reform”

Speakers Include:
•    John Holahan, Director, The Urban Institute, Health Policy Center
•    Gordon Bonnyman, Executive Director, Tennessee Justice Center
•    Michael Gelder, Senior Advisor on Health Policy, IL Office of the Governor
•    Karen Batia, Executive Director, Heartland Health Outreach
•    Additional Speakers TBA

Moderated By: Roberta Rakove, Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, Sinai Health System

 

Location: UIC Student Center West
828 S. Wolcott Street, Chicago, 2nd Floor

 

$35 Registration Fee
RSVP by April 20th. For scholarship information or special
accommodations, contact Janna Stansell

Roosevelt Institute Campus Network, Health & Medicine Forges New Partnership

 
Health & Medicine's Center for Long-Term Care Reform recently reached out to the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network's University of Chicago chapter.  The Roosevelt Institute is a not-for-profit organization devoted to carrying out the legacy and promoting the values of President Franklin Deleanor Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt.  Part of the Institute is the Campus Network: a group of over 80 universities and colleges across the country, with more than 8,500 student members.

Roosevelt Institute Campus Network: Chicago

The Roosevelt Institute Campus Network is active in Chicago at several universities: University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and Roosevelt University.  The Campus Network is a national student initiative with the goal of engaging students in relevant policy discussion and research.  The Campus Network calls their unique political activism Think Impact.

The Roosevelt Institute Campus Network has a busy schedule in 2011, hosting a variety of policy conferences throughout the country.  In just a couple of weeks, the Campus Network will be hosting a day-long conference here in Chicago:

Equal Justice: Rally for Rights!

• When: Saturday April 9th, 2011 - 9 am until 5pm
• Where: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois
• What: the Conference will feature speakers both local and national with topics surrounding the issues of human rights [worker rights, immigrant rights, consumer rights, civil rights

For more information on, and to register for, the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network's Policy Conference in Chicago, please click  here.

 

And don't miss the Policy Expo/Journal Launch in Chicago at Roosevelt University (430 South Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL) on Friday April 8th from 6:30-8:30pm.  For more information, or to RSVP, please contact Audrey Henkels, U Chicago Roosevelt Campus Network, by clicking here.

The Campus Network, Health & Medicine and Economic Security

In February, 2011, Health & Medicine Policy Analyst Kristen Pavle spoke to the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network at U Chicago about Social Security.  In light of all of the political discussion on Social Security, and the importance of Social Security to economic security, Health & Medicine was interested to hear the opinions of a younger generation.

Stay tuned  as the relationship between the Roosevelt Campus Network in Chicago and Health & Medicine evolves. And until then, check out the upcoming Roosevelt Campus Network Policy Conference offerings for Spring 2011.

 

For more information on Health & Medicine or the Center for Long-Term Care Reform, and our work on economic security and advocacy for Social Security, please contact Kristen Pavle.

Happy Birthday to Health Reform!

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act (ACA) into law.  One year later, we are still celebrating this health reform initiative, and advocating in its support.  Health & Medicine has been actively involved in the implmentation of the Affordable Care Act on a state-level, here in Illinois:

• We have given testimony on the ACA several times (scroll to the bottom of the page to find our testimonies);
• We have attended conferences locally and in Washington D.C. to better understand how Illinois can take advantage of the ACA to provide better and more affordable health care in our state;
• We have given talks to educate advocacy groups, community-based organizations, and professionals on ACA provisions; and
• We have received funding through the ACA for the Illinois Transitional Care Consortium's Bridge Program--an evidence-based model of transitional care.

Check out a few articles Health & Medicine has found in honor of the Affordable Care Act turning 1 year old:

• "Lost in The Noise: The Benefits of Health Care Reform", by Sally Ho, Progress Illinois

• "Happy Anniversary Health Care Reform", Center for Medicare Advocacy

• "OTC meds poisoned him, but lack of insurance did him in", by Nicole Brochu, Los Angeles Times

• "Polls Highligh Split on Health Care Law", by Marjorie Connelly, New York Times

• "After one year, health law already offers life lines", USA Today

• "White House: We are still battling health reform misinformation campaign", by Stephanie Condon, CBS

For more information on Health & Medicine's involvement with the Affordable Care Act, please contact Janna Stansell or Kristen Pavle.

Yahoo News: Income Tax Chart Shows Assault on Middle Class

Click here to read an interesting article on the disparity in tax burden between high income and low and middle-income residents in the US.

“Don’t cut Medicaid, fund it better.” CNN article by Dr. Aaron E. Carroll

Dr. Aaron E. Carroll, associate professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the director of the university’s Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research, hit the nail on the head with his recent article for CNN: “Don’t cut Medicaid, fund it better”. 

In Dr. Carroll’s article, the importance of Medicaid is stressed—it is, after all, the health care safety net for millions of individuals with very, very low-income.  Not to mention, on the economic side of things Medicaid is cheaper than private insurance.  And no insurance at all ends up costing the system the most. 

So, with the economy still fighting its own way back to good health, we are finding more and more individuals enrolling into Medicaid.  And with the Affordable Care Act, more individuals will find themselves with Medicaid as their health insurer.  Dr. Carroll urges states to consider that cuts to Medicaid may make state budgets look better in the short term, but with “a very real, very immediate, and very human cost”. 

Read the full article, “Don’t cut Medicaid, fund it better” by Dr. Aaron E. Carroll by clicking here.

For more information on the health care safety net in Illinois or the Affordable Care Act health reform efforts in Illinois, contact Janna Stansell or Kristen Pavle, Health & Medicine Policy Research Group.

The Federal Poverty Threshold: Inadequate

By Vanessa Beck, Health & Medicine intern from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration

The United States, the wealthiest of nations, is also an unequal nation.  Millions of people cannot afford rent, food, health care, or other necessities. Life situations change and people who once had enough lose the resources they need for economic security.  They live in poverty.  The federal poverty measure is used to determine eligibility for supports such as SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and LIHEAP (home energy assistance).  The formula was set in 1963 using 1955 guidelines on how much people spent on food in emergency situations. 

 The federal poverty threshold measures sheer deprivation; in 2010 the federal poverty guidelines are as follows:

• $10,830 for a single person—that’s $902.50/month.  Even with supports you are eligible for, you have to borrow money, accept gifts, and just go without.
• $14,570 for a family of two;
• $18,310 for three;
• $22,050 for four.

 The economy and our country has changed dramatically since 1963, the year the federal poverty level was created, yet the same formula is used to determine poverty today.  The measure does not rise as standard of living rises.  In addition, today, people spend larger percentages of their income on non-food items such as health care and housing.

 Changing the Language: from Economic Poverty to Economic Security

 A measure of economic security—how much a person actually needs to make ends meet—should be utilized instead of an outdated measure of deprivation.  The Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index is a tool to determine what income and service supports older Americans need in order to live in economic security in a home and community based setting.  Instead of solely measuring the cost of a thrifty food plan as the federal poverty line does, the Elder Economic Security Index accounts for expenses like housing, health care, owning vs. renting, and transportation.  The Index also includes geographically adjusted data for the state and even county level. 

 According to the federal poverty level, which is not an indicator of economic security, the numbers are dire—almost 44 million people live in poverty in the US, an increase of 4 million from last year.  Amongst elder Americans, 32.7% of white people and 64.6% of Black people will enter poverty.  But viewing things through a lens of depravity does not depict an accurate picture of who is unable to make ends meet; it merely tells us who is the worst off.

 
 Seniors are particularly vulnerable to poverty for several reasons.  Social Security is threatened and pensions have become a rarity—only 35% of older Americans have them.  According to measures of Median Income, income decreases with age.  Elders earn 53% less at ages 65-69 than they did at peak earnings.  At ages 75-79, elders earn 64% less than peak earnings.  For elders at ages 90+, earnings are 69% less than at their peak.  The poverty level is not an adequate measure of what it takes to live with economic security.

 What Can Be Done?

 Health and Medicine Policy Research Group (HMPRG) is one of 17 state-partners with Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW), the creator of the Elder Economic Security Initiative.  As the official Illinois state partner, HMPRG works with a diverse and extensive network of advocacy, legislative, research and provider organizations to educate people on the importance of elder economic security.  HMPRG explores innovative policy options to address the gap that the EESI Standard identifies between the federal poverty level and true economic security.

 The Elder Index can be used by adults to more accurately plan for retirement; by professionals to aid older adults in reaching the standard of living the Index details and to help assess older adults at economic risk; and hopefully in the future, the Elder Index will be used instead of the poverty measure in determining eligibility for supportive programs.  Given the economic recession America is still weathering, more and more older adults are finding it harder to make ends meet.  It is urgent that social service agencies, community activists, and policies address the growing need to help provide elders with economic security.

For more information contact Kristen Pavle, Health and Medicine Policy Research Group.