Cape Care Coalition winter quarterly meeting planned in Harwich

Meeting to be held on January 16th in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Cape Care Coalition, an initiative to create Cape Care, a regional, community-owned health care system for Cape Cod, will hold its Winter Quarterly Meeting in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Saturday, January 16, 9:30am–11am at the Harwich Community Center.  Dr. King said, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." 

Cape Care Community Health Trust bill (HB 4138) will receive a hearing by the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing on Wednesday, January 20, 2010, at 1 pm at the State House, Room B-1. Click here for more details and to sign up.

The meeting, which is free and open to the public, will feature an open discussion about the legislative and community outreach aspects of work on this vital work to make equitable health care a reality in Barnstable County. 

Health care reform at the national and state level is not as comprehensive as the envisioned reform of Cape Care.  While the state reports that only 2.6% of the population is currently uninsured, the Human Condition report for Barnstable County reports that 11.7% of county residents remain uninsured, and when looking at the most needy, it's 15.7%. Additionally, of those who are insured in the county, 39% of all respondents and 45% of those considered most needy, said that a barrier to care is that their insurance is not accepted.

Cape Care is committed to coverage for all Cape residents.  Enabling legislation has been introduced into the state legislature and a hearing will be held before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing on January 20 in Boston.  The proposed legislation, as well as the Cape Care draft model plan, can be found at the Cape Care Coalition website, www.capecare.info.  For more information on the Quarterly meeting, please call 1-877-700-8070 or email info@capecare.info.

Courtesy of Cape Care.