Posted by Andrew Svec 11/29/99
Contact: Barbara Weiler, 218-281-8435
Goals
Established for NW Minnesota Health Care Purchasing Alliance
Thirty citizens from
NW Minnesota gathered in Thief River Falls recently to begin organizing a
new model for providing health care coverage. Small business, industry,
farmers, health care providers, and government were represented. The
meeting was convened by University of Minnesota, Crookston (UMC) Civic
Health Initiative Coordinator Barbara J Muesing, and Executive Vice
President of Advocates for Marketplace Options on Mainstreet Liz Quam
Berne.
The Minnesota
legislature passed legislation to support this initiative in response to a
growing concern about health insurance cost and availability in NW
Minnesota. Citizens in NW Minnesota share this concern, and the situation
is worsening as the farm economy continues to decline. Organizing a
purchasing alliance will provide a way for members of the alliance to
shape their own plan with a goal of providing affordable coverage. A
similar effort is underway in SW Minnesota.
The goal for the
alliance that was agreed to at the recent meeting is to offer businesses
and farm families a new option for health coverage designed to provide
affordable accessible, quality health care to members. This will help
maintain the economic strength of the local communities and improve the
overall health and well being of the region.
Guiding principles
were also agreed to at the meeting. Accountability was a key message as
citizens discussed the need for a user-friendly health delivery system
with incentives for maintaining health lifestyles. Long term commitment of
providers and purchasers was another accountability issue up for
discussion.
The citizen leaders
also deliberated the geographic boundaries for the purchasing alliance and
decided to include the seven counties of Kittson, Lake of the Woods,
Marshall, Polk, Red Lake, and Roseau.
Next steps will be to
organize a structure and board to develop the alliance membership criteria
and benefit package. Citizen leaders will continue to advance this agenda
using a civic approach to the work. Muesing describes this as collecting
up the wisdom of those who assemble to do the task.
"This is
different than calling in the expert with all the answers. The reality is
that there is no expert with a solution to this complex problem. The
legislature has decided that citizens have the best shot at figuring this
out, and that’s what we are trying to do: one step at a time," says
Muesing.
The steering committee
will meet again in mid-December. For more information about the
initiative, call 218-281-8680.