Group Health Members--join the Group Health Progressive Caucus

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If you use Group Health and became a voting member of Group Health Cooperative before the now-past deadline of June 23rd, you will have received a 2004 Annual Meeting Guide and ballot for GHC board trustee candidates.

The Progressive Consumers Caucus - a group of progressively-minded members of Group Health - has been organizing to restore the basic cooperative principles of democratic governance, fair compensation to employees, and active support for a national health care program that covers everyone, publicly-financed (and thereby eliminating private insurance).

Nancy Rising and Lyle Mercer - our two trustee candidates - will fight for national health care and for a more democratic Cooperative.

We ask you to vote for them - and mail your ballot right away!

And - please plan to attend the Annual Membership Meeting, Saturday, October 23rd - to support our resolutions: Resolution #2, National Health Care, and Resolution #3, Strengthening Governance and Member Participation.

Questions? Call Craig Salins, 206-784-9695, Lyle Mercer, 206-324-9258, Nancy Rising, 425-827-9181.
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Here is more information:

New Leadership Needed at Group Health Cooperative

Group Health is a tremendously valuable health care provider for all of us, with dedicated and forward-looking caregivers and medical leadership.
But in the past two years, we've seen the following from the incumbent board leaders:
1. The current board leadership last October tried to steal members' power to change our bylaws - a move some saw as a step towards remaking Group Health into simply another insurance company.

2. On the current board's watch - and without informing members – GHC supported a seriously-flawed Medicare "reform" law. This law now prohibits Medicare from negotiating lower prices for drugs; it makes it illegal for anyone to buy drugs from Canada; it creates phenomenal out-of-pocket costs for many seniors; it causes low-income seniors to lose their Medicaid prescription drug coverage. It's the worst "reform" in years, hardly consistent with our cooperative mission.

3. The anti-union rhetoric coming from the current board officers has created a poisoned climate, rarely seen before in our Cooperative, where our valued and skilled caregivers are at loggerheads in negotiations with management over a new contract, and Group Health is getting a serious black eye in the community.

4. Clinics have closed, services cut back, and premiums increased at a wildly unsustainable rate - all while the GHC brass rack up a $150 million profit in 2003. Were these decisions shared with members before being enacted?

5. Group Health members have endorsed national health care with universal coverage several times in past decades. But the board and top managers have done almost nothing to educate members, to empower our 500,000 members with truth against misleading propaganda, and activate our membership base as a lobbying force. (Our Resolution #2 would fix that!)

Is this the leadership we want-- promising open communication and an environment of problem-solving, but delivering the opposite? A strong resume doesn't necessarily mean strong co-op values. We need an infusion of democracy in the Cooperative - and some serious "regime change" on the board, towards common sense and cooperative values.

We hope members will think about this. Lyle Mercer and Nancy Rising are committed to maintaining Group Health's excellence in health care delivery. They will also fight for a national health insurance program that covers everyone, financed publicly to eliminate the profiteers in the privateinsurance industry.

VOTE: Mercer and Rising, Group Health Board of Trustees Mail your ballot TODAY! Attend the GHC Annual Membership Meeting - October 23rd Support Resolution #2 - National Health Care, and Resolution #3 - Strengthening Governance and Member Participation

Resolution #2, submitted and endorsed by the Progressive Consumers Caucus, calls for a national health insurance program that is publicly-financed, to eliminate the profit-hungry private insurance system. Unlike the board's proposed resolution (#1 inGHC Annual Meeting Guide), ours calls for Group Health to launch a vigorous member education effort, to empower members as "citizen lobbyists" working to achieve equitable financing and coverage for all.

Resolution #3 reaffirms our cooperative structure, calls for increased information to and participation of members, and open meetings of the board.

For more information: Lyle Mercer, trustee candidate, 206-324-9258 Nancy Rising, trustee candidate, 425-827-9181 Craig Salins, resolution co-sponsor, 206-784-9695