Attorney General Martha Coakley has appointed Nancy Turnbull from the Harvard School of Public Health to serve a three year term as the consumer representative on the board of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority. Nancy will replace Chip Joffe Halpern who has filled this seat since the creation of the Authority in June 2006. Chip is a dedicated, hardworking, thoughtful and caring guy who made a real difference in the success of health reform to date (he is also President of the Board of Directors of HCFA); he deserves great credit for his enormous efforts. Nancy will be a first rate voice and force for the interests of all consumers. We offer sincere congratulations to Chip and to Nancy.
Here are excerpts of the AG’s release:
BOSTON – Today, Attorney General Martha Coakley appointed consumer advocate and health policy expert Nancy Turnbull to the Board of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector.
“Nancy Turnbull is a leading advocate in Massachusetts health policy and she will be a powerful voice for consumers,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley. “I am confident that Nancy will work cooperatively with all the stakeholders to advance the interests of citizens of Massachusetts as health reform goes forward over the next three years.” Turnbull is a lecturer in health policy and the Director of Educational Programs in the Health Policy and Management Department at the Harvard School of Public Health. She also serves on the boards of Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, the Catastrophic Illness in Children Relief Fund Commission, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation. Additionally, she is a consumer member on the Member Appeals Committee at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Turnbull previously worked as Deputy Commissioner for Health Policy in the Massachusetts Division of Insurance and later as Acting CEO of Neighborhood Health Plan. Most recently, Turnbull served as the President of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts. She stepped down from this position earlier this year to return to Harvard.
Under the health reform law passed last year, the legislature established the Connector Board to ensure access to high-quality, affordable health insurance. The ten member board comprises three appointees of the Attorney General, three gubernatorial appointments and four ex officio members. Turnbull will join the Attorney General’s other appointees; Celia Wcislo, Assistant Division Director of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and Louis Malzone, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Coalition of the Taft-Hartley Funds, on the Connector’s Board. Turnbull’s part-time, unpaid, three-year appointment runs through June 2010. Turnbull will replace Charles Joffe-Halpern, whose term expired last month.
“Chip served as a conscientious and extremely diligent member of The Connector Board, and served as a valuable contributor in the Board’s first year. I have asked him, and he has agreed to serve as a member of a newly-created Health Care Advisory Board which will assist the AG’s Health Care Division and others here to examine the Community Benefits programs at Health Care Non-Profits, and assist us as we look at the issues of regional access to Health Care,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley.
Since 1995, Joffe-Halpern has served as Executive Director of Ecu-Health Care, Inc., a model health care access program for uninsured residents of North Berkshire. He is also President of the Board of Directors of Health Care For All, the lead consumer health care advocacy agency in New England. Additionally he is a member of the Medical Care Advisory Committee to the Commissioner of Medicaid in Massachusetts. During his professional career, Joffe-Halpern has been a clinical social worker, social work supervisor and administrator in a number of mental health and medical settings in Western Massachusetts. He holds a Master’s Degree in Social Welfare from the State University of New York at Albany.Attorney General Martha Coakley has made health care a top priority since taking office. In January, she created a Health Care Division within her Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau to focus on health policy and the enforcement of consumer protection laws relating to health insurance, pharmaceuticals, and other health issues.
I believe that Norma is right, the Connector website is about as helpful as a cement life preserver! The products offered are not affordable nor are they useful.
As to Ms. Turnbull, I do not mean to impugn her character, but I am told that while she once advocated for a single payer system, she now appears to be firmly aligned with the insurance industry, which seems to be the only real benficiary of Chapter 58. Consumers have had no voice at the table, thus far. How does Ms. Turnbull intend to represent our interests?
This law was crafted and passed behind closed doors and does not represent real reform, only a reiteration of the status quo. Individuals are right to be skeptical and suspicious.
The fact of the matter is that the name “Healthcare Reform” has nothing to do with neither Health nor Care nor Reform. Please look up the definition of each word and try to reconcile them with the reality of what has been created.
By using such benign wording, the public is fooled into thinking that this is a well meaning, progressive plan, when it is simply an underhanded and painful way to extract more money from an already struggling populace.
This expensive enterprise was devised by politicians and number-crunching insurance companies for the benefit of the authors, not the good people who pay for it. In this “laboratory[ies] of reform” (quote from Salvatore DiMasi) Massachusetts citizens are the unwitting sacrificial lab rats.
The architects are clearly indifferent when the human equation doesn’t fit into their pre-determined end. This fact has been demonstrated over and over again in public forums. Even here, on this very forum, there is evidence of this sad fact.
Anyone with a jot of commonsense can see that you can’t replace one fractured system with another and call it “reform. People need heath CARE not health INSURANCE.
True reform would be the removal of profit and expensive administrative overhead with the establishment of a universal single-payer system. Please read: http://www.massnurses.org/single_payer/faq.htm , http://www.pnhp.org/ , http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19886686/site/newsweek/page/0 .
The Connector believes this is affordable, but I don’t. Thanks for nothing.
Norma – There’s no doubt that it remains a struggle for many people to afford health insurance. Premiums and cost-sharing add up quickly. This is absolutely something we need to work on. In the immediate, however, please keep in mind that there are a range of plans available and not all have deductibles. The Connector has a helpful website that compares the Commonwealth Care plans (www.mahealthconnector.org). You should also feel free to call our helpline with questions – 800-272-4232. It seems like you may have already looked into this, but you may also not be subject to the mandate. You can visit our website (http://www.hcfama.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewPage&pageID=614) or call our helpline to find out if there are plans available to you that the Connector believes are affordable.
ok, I am 57 year old homemaker and my husband is retired. I have a problem with paying $300.00 for a insurance plan that has a $3000.00 to $4000.00 deductable. why would the State make a LAW that causes this much hardship to it’s own citizens. The application for subsidy is a invasion of privacy. Would you go to any insurance company and show them your financial records? I dont think so. We are over the limit anyway but the idea that I am treated like a ciminal because I am not wealthy is outrageous. So we decide to not pay our car payment, not pay my credi cards so I can come up with this money every month for an insurance plan designed not to pay my medical bills, don’t you think this is outrageous?
Norma, What are your questions? Maybe someone reading this blog will be able to answer them.
I had a legitimate question I spelled the name wrong by accident. I never insult people. I want answers to my questions and always get ignored. I called the Governor, State House and it falls on deaf ears. I am mad as a hornet but would never insult anyone. The State law has put alot of people in a bad place and we can’t get any response from the people in charge. What do you propose we do.
Dear Norma,
I don’t claim to have answers to lots of questions. I just think we can be nice to one another while we disagree on issues.
In all due repsect Mr. Levy being that your a person of means and have health insurance I don’t think you should come to the blog without answers to many questions of persons without health insurance. until you walk in my shoes please don’t tell me how to behave. we have an Elitist State and I ‘m pretty upset by that. so keep your opions to yourself unless you can answer our questions about this bogus healthcare law.
What is going on here? A good, thoughtful, and knowledgeable person is asked to serve on a governmental body to help implement a landmark law designed to provide access to health care to people in the state — and then she is personally attacked? (And let’s note that the people who are attacking don’t even identify themselves with their real names.)
I guess there are two ways to deal with these kinds of comments. One is to ignore them, and hope they just fade away. The other is to say out loud that they are inappropriate and mean-sprited and discourage other highly qualified people from serving in advisory capacities in state government. At the risk of stirring up still more such comments, I choose the latter.
Implementation of this law is a difficult task for the members of the Connector Authority Board that will take hours of their time. These people deserve a level of civility and gratitude from members of the public. Sure, we can judge the efficacy of their actions and decisions as members of a public body, but let’s not impugn their personal motives and their beliefs.
I have a question for Nancy Turbull, A person wakes up at 2.a.m. has stomach pain and doesn’t know what to do because they don,t have medical insurance, do they just lay there and possibly die or go to an emergency room knowing they can’t afford the medical bills? I don’t think Nancy would like to be in that position for herself or her family members. Please answer my question.
I am among many health professwonals and activists across the state, and the nation for that matter, who have become very disappointed and disallusioned by Ms. Turnbull’s actions and allegiances. As often holds true, “Actions speak louder than words” and this adage has been an important way to evaluate Ms. Turnbull’s priorities.
Hence, to enrich this timely dialogue further here are a few additional comments on this topic from the NPR-wbur blog CommonHealth:
* Beth Vance posted:
Comment posted August 7th, 2007 at 7:46 am
Is the same haiku writing Nancy Turnbull who posted “A quiz on health reform by Nancy Turnbull” – (Wednesday, July 18th, 2007) and has yet to provide the promised answers?
Well, here’s a haiku to welcome [her to the Connector Board]:
Our health matters not
Profit and power are all
Now let them eat cake
* Pat posted:
Comment posted August 7th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
“I am confident that Nancy will work cooperatively with all the stakeholders to advance the interests of citizens of Massachusetts as health reform goes forward over the next three years.”
If I hear the term “stakeholders” one more time… We the people are the stakeholders, not the Insurance Industry bosses. Cooperating with the very people out to fleece us is not the way to protect the interests of Massachusetts’ citizens.
Michael is right on target. Nancy is tops and will do this job as she has done all others — with intelligence, integrity, respect for others’ views, thoughtfulness, and good humor. AG Coakley has made a superb appointment.
MCC’s comments are vicious and ignorant. Certainly Nancy Turnbull independence does not need defending. Her distinguished career in the government, non-profit sector and academia speaks volumes. Her record of service and dedication both to the public health and to extending health insurance to the most vulnerable is unmatched.
For goodness sake, she will be spending hundreds of hours of her own time in community service for the benefit of us all. Her kind of talent focused on the public good is exactly what the state and nation needs.
How can this be considered an independent voice regarding health care in Mass. Her most recent employer is BCBS and they are the major financial beneficiary of health care reform. She also sits on their board. It is only logical that her decisions will continue to ensure that out of state insurers will have less of a presence than they do in the marketplace.
Lack of competition drives the price up, not down.