Now More Than Ever: The Case for Health Care Consumer Assistance
BY DAVON RUSSELL,
PRESIDENT, WHEDCO
Even before the start of the
pandemic, which has laid bare
long-standing racial and economic
inequities in the city’s
healthcare system, New Yorkers
from low-income and underresourced
communities have
been experiencing a coverage
and affordability crisis.
Nowhere is the problem of
healthcare access and affordability
more acute than in the
Bronx, which has the nation’s
highest poverty rate (26.2 percent),
a per capita income of
$21,778, and a large population
of immigrants, many of whom
are uninsured. We know that
adequate health coverage can
contribute to a reduction in
mortality and morbidity and
can greatly reduce poverty. And
expanding access to this vital
source of health and fi nancial
security to our most vulnerable
community members – especially
amid the current health
emergency – is not only key to
people’s survival, but also good
public policy that is essential
to addressing vast inequities in
health and wealth.
Helping South Bronx residents
navigate the complexities
of the healthcare system
and access the health coverage
and care they need is just one
of many services the Women’s
Housing and Economic Development
Finally someone has
pointed out that there’s a dinosaur
in the room, namely
the very obvious danger of
making marijuana state
sanctioned and easily accessible.
Thank you councilman
Gjonaj, for your recent article
regarding this.
News media and political
fi gures seem to only tout the
revenue benefi ts as well as
making marijuana legal in order
to prevent people from being
arrested for possession.
There is never any mention
of the downside, especially regarding
health and young people.
While I don’t think anyone
should ever be arrested
for smoking marijuana I think
there has to be some way of the
state not sanctioning it yet not
making it a crime of sorts.
There’s a grey moderate zone
in between which Americans
never seem to be able to fi nd
even though that’s the zone
most of life takes place in.
As far as revenue, that is
never a justifi cation for promoting
ill health; including
cognitive disorders and the
rest that the Councilman mentioned.
If DWI wasn’t’ enough
then throw in some weed to
help it along, and what about
smoking in general? NY State
should have received a Nobel
Prize for its decades long
campaign to combat tobacco
smoking, which I regard as
one of the great public health
programs of the last half century.
The nation as a whole
has greatly suppressed tobacco
use as well. Smoking of
any kind, be it tobacco, marijuana,
or from fi res has deleterious
effects on health in so
many ways. Whether the active
psychotropic compound in
the smoke is nicotine, or THC
or simply nothing, the smoke
itself, over time can cause cardiovascular
disease and cancers
of many kinds including
lung cancer. And so now NY
State is going along with this
insanity?!
There has to be some way
of not arresting people for using
or possessing a relatively
small amount of the stuff, getting
the revenue from more
sane pursuits and above
all maintaining the public
health.
George Zulch, DDS
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, A BTR PR. 16-22, 2021 13
oped
letters & comments
Corporation (WHEDco)
provides. The community development
organization was the
brainchild of Nancy Biberman,
a pioneering legal services attorney
who early in her career
represented tenants, immigrants
and women experiencing
domestic violence before turning
her sights on creating permanent
solutions to the housing
crisis plaguing the city’s poor.
Founded in 1992, WHEDco has
raised millions of dollars to create
new affordable housing that
anchors and supports Bronx
communities. From the start,
WHEDco saw that housing
alone wasnot enough to support
healthy communities, and thus
invested in childcare, youth education,
job creation and other
social services, all in support
of its mission to create thriving
and healthy neighborhoods.
Through WHEDco’s Family
Support and Counseling Services,
South Bronx residents
gain access to critical public benefi
ts and are linked to resources
and care that support their families.
Each year, WHEDco connects
more than 3,000 individuals
and families to physicians,
mental health counselors, nutritionists,
employment assistance,
emergency food and early-childhood
education programs.
One program that makes a
big difference for people who
struggle to navigate the healthcare
system in New York City
is the Managed Care Consumer
Assistance Program (MCCAP).
MCCAP offers clients a place
to turn so they don’t have to
contend with the challenges
that sometimes emerge when
navigating the insurance and
healthcare system on their own.
The program fi rst started in
1998 as a model consumer assistance
program funded by the
City of New York. Between 1998
and 2010, MCCAP served more
than 140,000 residents in all fi ve
boroughs through a network of
26 Community Based Organizations
(CBOs) led by the Community
Service Society (CSS).
The program was dismantled in
2010 when City Council funding
was eliminated for Fiscal Year
2011. In 2019, thanks to the leadership
of Speaker Corey Johnson,
Finance Committee Chair
Daniel Dromm, Health Committee
Chair Mark Levine and
other members of New York City
Council, the program received a
$500,000 restoration.
WHEDco is one of 12 CBOs
that receive MCCAP funding
along with support and training
from CSS. This funding helps
WHEDco provide culturally
and linguistically competent
services to those who need help
understanding and enrolling
in insurance, resolving health
insurance problems, getting
medical services, and accessing
affordable care if they are uninsured.
CSS also offers assistance
through a live, toll-free helpline
(888-614-5400) for those people
who cannot come to a CBO.
The program was offi cially
launched in February 2020.
Since then, the CSS helpline
and CBOs have provided muchneeded
advocacy assistance
to over 3,000 individuals. But
perhaps more importantly, the
program is helping the City advance
its efforts to reduce health
inequities by ensuring that all
residents, regardless of race, income,
religion, immigration and
insurance status, are able to use
their health insurance coverage
or access free or low-cost health
programs.
WHEDco staff and volunteers
speak numerous languages,
including Spanish,
French, Bengali, Fulani and
Soninke. Altogether, MCCAP
CBOs provide services in more
than 15 languages and at 15 different
locations across all fi ve
boroughs. And more than 80
percent of MCCAP clients are
people of color and/or speak a
language other than English at
home.
MCCAP’s funding was cut
by 15% in FY21 due to the fi scal
crisis. But the need for
health advocacy services has
only intensifi ed because of the
pandemic. Without a restoration
at the FY20 funding level,
we will be severely limited in
the assistance we can provide
during this diffi cult time. As
the City begins deliberations
on a $92.28 billion municipal
budget, we urge the City Council
to consider restoring MCCAP
funding from $425,000 to
$500,000 in the FY22 budget.
This investment is particularly
important as we continue
to deal with the COVID-19
pandemic, state funding for
Medicaid and other city public
health programs is at risk,
and government resources for
safety-net providers is being
cut. MCCAP funding is critical
for programs that help address
public health crises such as
COVID-19 that affect predominantly
low-income, immigrant
New Yorkers and communities
of color. Simply put, it’s a lifeline
for the South Bronx residents
we serve.
One hundred us dollar with face
mask on insurance paper bill.
Health care cost during coronavirus
covid outbreak concept Getty
Images
Dear Letters Editor:
Wiser words could not
have been written “Another
yoke on our neck” (Editorial
— April 8). How fortunate we
are to live in one of the few
remaining free societies,
with a wealth of information
sources available. Many
cities, suburbs and small
towns are down to one local
daily or weekly newspaper.
Newspapers and magazines
have enough to deal
with such as increasing
costs for newsprint, delivery,
distribution, reduced advertising
revenues due to
COVID-19, and declining
readership due to competition
from the Internet and
other news information
sources. This proposed legislation
may be the fi nal nail
in the coffi n for survival.
Daily newspapers concentrate
on international, Washington,
Albany, City Hall,
business and sports stories.
They have few reporters assigned
to cover local neighborhood
news. These reporters
have to compete against
colleagues for limited available
print space. Daily newspapers
miss signifi cant news
and political stories from local
Bronx neighborhoods.
Weekly newspapers such
the Bronx Times and Bronx
Times Reporter fi ll the void
for coverage of local community
news.
These same elected offi -
cials claim to be friends of
the environment, but send
out numerous bulk rate
mailings, subsidized by taxpayers.
These clog our mailboxes
year round. They end
up taking space at landfi ll
sites. Every campaign season,
these same candidates
litter neighborhoods with
thousands of their own posters
illegally attached to light
posts all around town. Have
you ever seen any candidate,
losing or winning taking
down this visual garbage
after election day? This law
should apply to campaign literature,
mailings and posters,
as well.
Public offi cials should not
be making life more diffi cult
for our weekly community
newspapers to survive.
Larry Penner
Marijuana
Madness