Healthcare Committee Meeting
Tuesday, April 12, 202 at 2:00 PM
In Attendance:
Marilyn Ayers
Elaine Branjord
Better Seeland
Marlu Burkamp
Carol Merovka
Sandy Schuster
Karen Sheek
Barb Dungey
Linda Mahan
Donna Nielson
Beth Hendrix
Laura Baker (taking notes)
Meeting officially began at 2:03.
(Laura started the recording late. Recorded to the cloud.)
Carol M presented a PowerPoint slide show re: Hospitals report. Her executive summary included the following:
In the Colorado Health Institute report –
CO is sixth in the nation for price increases
2009 average price per patient rose 22% higher than the national average
2018: Colorado is second hightest in the nation in total profit per patient
2020: 45 hospitals in the state, eight health systems
Co hostpitals reported 6.9 billion dollar increases in profits
40% of colorado state budget is spent on healthcare
In the second report–
Cost Shifting: to make up for the cost of covering Medicaid/Medicare patients, hospitals shift those costs to insured patients.
This report included five key findings (Beth asked Carol to share her PowerPoint slides)
Carol mentioned wanting to get in contact with healthcare representatives of local leagues around th state.
The LWVCO Annual Meeting will include time for “breakout sessions,” including for people interested in healthcare.
Committees have “Purpose Statement” but NOT written goals.
Beth with follow-up with the Healthcare Committee after the Annual Meeting planning session with Karen and Barb.
Carol asked if the committee meetings are monthly or bi-monthly: Beth responded that it’s up to the members. It was mentioned that May will be a busy month.
Karen told members about the bibliography that she put together.
It was mentioned that there is interest in creating a film/book group.
Linda: Looking for a rural delegate to the National Convention that can participate in both the Digital Equity and Rural Healthcare caucuses.
Linda submitted a request for convention table for Healthcare
This will need to be staffed
Pass out material, encourage/monitor the sign-up sheet, etc.
Question: Can this be staffed by volunteers, not just delegates? Beth will find out.
Regarding the Health Care Caucus: concurrence has been approved by National.
(The healthcare caucus will not be at the same time as the digital equity caucus.)
Beth mentioned that the Committee can have a webpage on the State LWVCO website.
Linda: Is LWVCO collecting delegate info from around the state?
Beth: Yes, although that process hasn’t started yet.
New York State has a healthcare concurrence.
Carol M. volunteered to speak re: Healthcare Committee on upcoming league leadership calls.
NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, May 10th at 2:00 PM