• The Democratic Party gave the country the original single payer
systems: Medicaid, Medicare, and the Veterans Health Administration.
• We believe that health care is a fundamental
right., not a privilege; a necessity,
not a luxury.
• We pledge
ourselves to attaining support a constitutional
amendment that affirms the right to universal health care coverage
for all families and individuals, and to quality
healthcare. an initiative which ends racial and ethnic health
disparities in the Commonwealth not later than the year 2010. To these ends, we
favor both fundamental and ongoing reforms that promote access, control costs,
and improve quality. Our Party supports the creation of
• Massachusetts Democrats continue to advocate for a single-payer health care system
for all citizens.both in Massachusetts and in
the nation in order to achieve the goal of universal health care. We understand
that other methods are less satisfactory to us, but we remain committed to ensuring
that every man, woman, and child in our state should have access to high
quality health care. We thank our Congressional delegation for their
extraordinary leadership in Washington with respect to all health care issues,
and commend The Legislature for making our state a model of improved coverage
for children and reduced use of tobacco.
• TWe are
proud that policies endorsed in past Party platforms and adopted in recent
years by the Commonwealth have helped place our state near the top with
respect to share of children and adults covered by must
act to provide affordable health insurance to
all residents. We remain committed to extending proper coverage to
each of the hundreds of thousands of residents still uninsured, and to aiding
the even greater number who are underinsured, or at risk of being so. We
endorse the HealthNow! proposal that would build on the success of The
Children’s Coverage Initiative by providing health coverage to tens of
thousands of uninsured working adults. We strongly back efforts in Congress and
The Legislature to make
• We support full funding for the
state sponsored Prescription Advantage drug insurance plan, to ensure that all
senior citizens have access to affordable prescription
drugs. more affordable, including as a
benefit of Medicare. We recognize that comprehensive health care reform is the
only way to ensure that health care for all at an affordable price can truly
become a reality.
• The Commonwealth must provide
well-baby and child healthcare to all.
• We support the restoration of
MassHealth coverage and funding.
• The Commonwealth must reinstate
dental coverage for MassHealth eligible adults, and expand and improve services
for children.
We
seek to restore balance between individuals and their managed care health
plans, so members can obtain the care they need and doctors are most able to
act in the best interests of their patients. We strongly support the state’s
Patients’ Bill of Rights Act of 2000, which guarantees important new
protections to residents in state-regulated HMO health plans, like a right to
appeal denials of care. We call for vigorous enforcement of all its provisions,
and support parallel national efforts. We endorse state and federal proposals giving
patients the right to sue their HMO. We support measures to • The Commonwealth must protect thea patient’s right to privacy and confidentiality of
patient records, and state involvement in the ongoing effort to eliminate
medical errors.
We
believe that our state’s worldclass medical care and world renowned teaching
hospitals and universities together with leading edge biotechnology and medical
device industries are critical to our economy as well as the health of our
citizens. We are cognizant of the extreme threat that exists at this time. We
are deeply concerned about the severe financial difficulties facing our
teaching and community hospitals, community health centers, not-for-profit
health plans, extended and home care providers, and other healthrelated
organizations and professionals. Equally, we are alarmed by the harmful
consequences of measures such as reduced • We
support reasonable staffing and work schedules
for our hospital nurses and doctors.levels, uneconomic rates of
compensation, and higher premiums that have been taken in response to those
difficulties. We very strongly support efforts to reverse misguided reductions
under the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997 which have underfunded graduate medical
education and reimbursements to these facilities. We endorse the common-sense
principle that provider payments from the state and others must cover costs,
and we support increased reimbursements through Medicaid and Medicare.
• We strongly
endorse the state’s support an expansion of private
health insurance benefits to include mMental hHealth pParity. Law adopted in 2000, and know of the extreme
difficulty many residents experience in obtaining adequate, or even any,
treatment of mental health conditions.
• We oppose cuts in believe the state must establish a
coordinated program with human service agencies to address the explosive growth
in the mental health needs of services,
including those for children and adolescents. We believe the amount
of mental health benefits generally available to residents of the Commonwealth
is insufficient to meet need. We condemn the neglectful policies of the
Republican Administrations of the past decade which have resulted in the
inability of families to obtain desperately-needed psychiatric care for loved
ones. Our Party supports the full implementation of mental health policies
which will provide emergence care, family support, and appropriate housing to
our citizens with chronic mental health disorders.
• We endorse the Legislature’s support for stem cellbelieve
medical research, including embryonic stem cells,
in the belief that such innovation, and education are key strengths
of the Commonwealth. We support expanded National Institutes of Health (NIH)
funding, a strong federal commitment to the life sciences, state-backed research
institutions and incubators, and a climate that fosters private sector
innovations. We believe new will yield treatments
can produce improved quality of life and substantial cost savings by reducing
disease and disability in older Americans. We support the development and
coverage of innovative therapies and medications to assuage pain and improve
the quality of life of those suffering from terminal or debilitatingfor many illnesses. We understand that breakthrough
treatments, however exciting, become meaningful only when made accessible to
those in need of them.
We
seek to protect the Commonwealth’s heritage of not-for-profit medicine and its
inherent commitment to the public interest. We seek vigorous enforcement of new
requirements subjecting proposed takeovers of not-for-profit hospitals and
health plans by for-profit corporations to close public scrutiny. We believe the
state must increase its health planning efforts in all areas, and we support
its right to identify services and providers that are essential to communities
and act to preserve them.
• We reaffirm
our belief that a woman has the right to choose whether and when to have a
child. We support the 1973 Supreme Court unwavering
support for the provisions in Roe v. Wade decision as the law of the
land and absolutely oppose any constitutional
amendment, law or regulationeffort to restrictweaken or overturn that decisionit. We are alarmed by, and opposed to, the
anti-choice policies of the Bush Administration.
We condemn acts of violence and
intimidation which inhibit the rights of women seeking services. No woman who
has chosen to terminate her pregnancy should be the victim of physical, verbal,
or emotional intimidation under any circumstances.
We
view the protection and privacy of women seeking abortions as a fundamental
right. We pledge to work for comprehensive, accessible, and non-coercive
reproductive health care policies and services, with a special focus on the
needs of low-income, rural and young women and families of t
• The
Commonwealth. This includes programs to improve the health and safety of
pregnancy and childbirth, adequate must ensure that
all women have access to pre-natal and
pediatric care, affordable adoption programs,
reproductive, and family planning counseling, and accessible
contraceptive services, drugs, and devices. We believe that
contraceptive drugs and devices should be a covered benefit of health insurance
plans. and that such services are provided
to women unable to afford such care. We oppose Republican efforts to eliminate
services and cut funding for these programs.
We support
policies to discourage smoking, especially among youth, and to hold the tobacco
industry accountable for their actions against public health. We support
increased federal and state excise taxes on tobacco products and believe that
these revenues and national settlement monies are used most appropriately in
support of anti-smoking and health care related efforts. We renew our call for
disclosure requirements for tobacco ingredients, similar to standards for other
consumer products. We support legislation to regulate smoking in the workplace
and all public settings.
• The Commonwealth must fund
community-based alcohol and drug-treatment programs.
• We oppose federal spending cuts in HIV/AIDS programs,
and urge increases in spending and outreach.
• We oppose the Republican
administration’s proposal to impose excessive cost sharing and other burdens on
the Veterans Health System.
Developed by Brad Johnson (Boston Ward 4). Presented as a service for the 2005 Massachusetts Democratic Convention by Democracy for America: Boston.