NASHP convention topics cover both ends of the policy spectrum
NASHP convention topics cover both ends of the policy spectrum
Minnesota’s gift to the Hall of Unusual Governors, Jesse Ventura, did his best to try to make the jobs of more than 500 state health policy workers seem less of a burden.
"Policy should be simple and clear," Mr. Ventura told those gathered for the 13th annual National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) conference in Bloomington in August. Taking in the stunned silence around the room, the governor, no stranger to stunned silences, added, "Yet health care policy has become very complicated and confusing."
To say the least. Ventura, who does his best to boil everything down to its simplest form, even the incredibly complex and swiftly changing planet of state health policy, must have known that even he would have a hard time selling simplicity to this group of hardboiled policy wonks who daily leap through hoops of paperwork and slog through the muck of political turmoil. Ventura said he encourages personal responsibility when it comes to health care. But personal responsibility is only one of several factors when it comes to safeguarding the health of the uninsured.
"Whose responsibility is all this? The states? Individuals?" asked Christine Ferguson, director of the Rhode Island Department of Human Services, during a session of the conference. At the very least, the responsibility is shared three ways when private funding is added to the mix of state and individual funding.
Jane Beyer, senior counsel with the Democratic Caucus in Olympia, WA, sees funding as a metaphor. "I think of it as two sets of railroad tracks. There is public and employer-sponsored coverage," she said. "The tracks must start to cross instead of remaining parallel."
Ms. Beyer added that there is also a chance that plan might not work. "It’s possible these two trains could crash."
Simplifying state health policy ruled at one end of the spectrum at the conference, while traditional, add-more-legislation-to-already-existing-policy theories hunkered down at the other end. And of course, everything in between was represented. That’s why approximately 525 NASHP members and guests attended the three-day conference. They came to hear how other states administer their funding and enact their policies. Since all 50 states have their own methods of conducting business, those at the NASHP gathering wanted to get an earful from their fellow members, with the hope they would hear something that would help them do their jobs more effectively.
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