90^th Arizona Town Hall

Health Care in Arizona: Accessibility, Affordability and Accountability

April 15 - 18, 2007

In what the Arizona Republic described as, "one of the more interesting and surprising sessions in its five-decade history," the 90th Arizona Town Hall tackled a topic that will be at the crux of election issues for the next two years and one that challenges the best of the experts as well every citizen in finding solutions that will retain and even improve quality while making service more affordable and accessible to everyone throughout the state-health care. In Arizona, as throughout the country, fundamental systemic improvement will require moving from vested interests to community interest by the many participants who make up the current system. Following are just a few of the action plans and major areas for improvement that the participants in the 90th Arizona Town Hall identified.

• Create an alternative insurance coverage plan to offer a basic package of defined benefits, funded by diverse and integrated funding sources, based on the ability to pay and available to all.
• Expand health care coverage by: 1) Greater outreach to increase enrollment in existing programs; 2) Building upon the existing employer-based coverage; and 3) Making small group and individual insurance more available and affordable.
• Make behavioral health care ("behavioral health" includes mental health) a priority by coordinating it with physical health care for treatment and parity for coverage purposes.
• Inform health care consumers, at the point of service, about the real costs of care and options for decision-making.
• Develop methods, through public and private providers, to encourage preventive care instead of emergency care.
• The participants at this Town Hall agreed that everyone in Arizona should have access to a basic fundamental level of health care…. To accomplish the goal of access for all Arizonans, there must be a coordinated effort among state, local and federal agencies, nonprofits and the private sector.
• If a basic health care plan for Arizona is considered, it should be developed based on input from across the state and with an eye toward the negative social effects that result from the lack of insurance. Some suggested that Arizona's Governor should appoint a blue ribbon panel or a task force to evaluate and determine a basic benefit plan, including input from stakeholders around the state. This plan could then be presented to the Legislature.
• Encouraging personal accountability for maintaining good health can be accomplished by focusing on three issues: 1) education; 2) motivation; and 3) access to preventive care.

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