Lansing Families Deserve Better Healthcare

AN AMENDMENT TO THE LANSING CITY CHARTER TO CREATE A CITIZENS’ ADVISORY HEALTHCARE ACTION COMMITTEE (“CITIZENS’ ACTION COMMITTEE”) TO PREPARE A HEALTHCARE ACTION PLAN AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO ADDRESS PROHIBITIVE HEALTHCARE COSTS AND HEALTHCARE INACCESSIBILITY IN A BIENNIAL ACTION PLAN; TO PRESCRIBE THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE CITIZENS’ ACTION COMMITTEE; TO PRESCRIBE THE CITIZENS’ ACTION COMMITTEE’S COMPOSITION AND ORGANIZATION; AND TO REQUIRE THE PUBLICATION, A PUBLIC OVERVIEW, AND ADOPTION OF THE CITIZENS’ ACTION COMMITTEE’S HEALTHCARE ACTION PLAN. 

This proposed charter amendment does not alter or abrogate an existing charter provision. The full text of the proposal to add Chapter 7 to Article 5 of the Lansing Charter is as follows: 

Chapter 7. CITIZENS’ ADVISORY HEALTHCARE ACTION COMMITTEE

5-701 CITIZENS’ ADVISORY HEALTHCARE ACTION COMMITTEE 

.1 A Citizens’ Advisory Healthcare Action Committee (“Citizens’ Action Committee”) is hereby created to prepare a Healthcare Action Plan and make recommendations to address prohibitive healthcare costs and healthcare inaccessibility in a biennial action plan.

.2 The health, safety, and welfare of the residents of the City of Lansing are served by regular, transparent, and public evaluation of healthcare affordability, accessibility, insurance and benefit coverage, and medical service availability. A recurring process for collecting public testimony, reviewing data, and evaluating policy impacts will assist the City and the jurisdiction’s federal and state representatives in identifying barriers to healthcare access and in recommending effective responses. It is thus the purpose and intent of this Chapter to establish the Citizens’ Action Committee that will prepare a biennial Healthcare Action Plan and make recommendations to the City, and to provide a public process through which the public will be heard and needs assessed.

5-702 POWERS & DUTIES 

.1 A Healthcare Action Plan shall be developed by the Citizens’ Action Committee and presented to the City Council by October 1 of every even-numbered year. At a minimum, the Healthcare Action Plan shall set out:

(20) How healthcare affordability and accessibility, insurance and benefit coverage, and medical service availability have changed for City residents over the prior two years based on available population and public health data, hospital and other health care provider records, and public testimony;

(21) What federal, state, and local policy decisions and other factors have contributed to changes in healthcare affordability and accessibility, insurance and benefit coverage, and service availability;

(22) How federal and state elected officials who represent the City voted on relevant policies, including budgets and legislation, and the extent to which those actions and inactions were consistent with the prior Healthcare Action Plan; and

(d) Recommendations for concrete actions that the City and its federal and state representatives can take to improve healthcare affordability and accessibility, insurance and benefit coverage, and medical service availability.

.2 The Citizens’ Action Committee shall have the duty to:

(33) Hold multiple community forums each year for the purpose of hearing first-hand accounts of community members’ ability to afford and access primary, emergency, and necessary specialty medical care, in compliance with open meeting and public records requirements; 

(b) Hold multiple community forums each year for the purpose of hearing views on how federal, state, and local policy changes have impacted healthcare affordability, accessibility, and service availability, in compliance with open meeting and public records requirements;

(c) Compile data relevant to assessing the current state of healthcare affordability, accessibility, and service availability; 

(d) Assess how federal, state, and local policies and recent policy changes have impacted healthcare affordability, accessibility, and service availability; 

(e) Identify how the City’s federal and state representatives voted on relevant policy decisions; 

(f) Measure the City’s federal and state representatives’ actions or inactions against the prior Healthcare Action Plan; and  

(g) Issue a Healthcare Action Plan that compiles its findings and makes recommendations.

.3 The Citizens’ Action Committee shall have the power to partner with researchers, research institutions, state and local agencies and departments, foundations, and consultants to assist in its assessments and the performance of its duties.

5-703 COMPOSITION AND ORGANIZATION OF THE CITIZENS’ ACTION COMMITTEE

.1 The Citizens’ Action Committee shall consist of eight (8) members, to be appointed in a manner consistent with the Charter. 

.2 Members shall serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for the actual and necessary expenses as authorized in the annual budget or as otherwise approved by City Council.

.3 Appointments to the Citizens’ Action Committee shall be made with regard to the diversity of Lansing citizens, their variety of interests and the experience and expertise that each can contribute to the common good of the City, including those who may have research, analytical, and community engagement skills helpful to execute the powers and duties of the Citizens’ Action Committee and produce an Healthcare Action Plan, for example healthcare workers, uninsured or underinsured community members, public health professionals, patient advocates, and organized labor. 

.4 Vacancies on the Citizens’ Action Committee shall be filled in a manner consistent with the Charter. 

.5 The Citizens’ Action Committee shall organize itself for the conduct of its business, select its officers, and adopt rules of procedure in a manner consistent with the Charter.

5-704 PUBLICATION AND ACTION PLAN MEETING

.1 No later than October 1 of every even-numbered year, the City Council shall publish the Citizens’ Action Committee’s Healthcare Action Plan, recommendations, and all relevant research and findings in a manner that achieves broad public engagement. Minority members may append dissenting views to the published plan. 

.2 No later than October 15 of every even-numbered year, the City Council shall hold a special meeting with the Citizens’ Action Committee to provide a public overview of the Healthcare Action Plan and to adopt a Healthcare Action Plan.

5-705 SEVERABILITY

If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this Charter Amendment is for any reason held invalid or unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions.