Cook County Public Health System May Get a Three-Year Reprieve

By Sheilah Garland-Olaniran

CHICAGO, IL—Last year’s Cook County Budget crisis resulted in deep cuts to health services for uninsured, underinsured and indigent patients who rely on the County health system for care. While the unions fought the cuts, the impact of clinic closures and services denied patients will never truly be known.

Fast forward to the 2008 Cook County budget crisis: the president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, Todd Stroger, decided to pass the 2008 budget prior to the end of the 2007 fiscal year. Without showing an actual deficit, Mr. Stroger asked for a 2% sales tax increase. Until the final days of the budget process, Mr. Stroger used his 2% sales tax increase to threaten and intimidate employees of the County health system. His threat was that if he did not get the support for the sales tax increase he was demanding; that thousands of workers would lose their jobs. In fact, in an effort to shore up this threat, he sent letters to the unions representing those workers notifying them of a pending layoff that could possibly include all of their members.

While there is no question that additional revenues are needed to keep the remaining County health services and restore those that were cut last year, a 2% sales tax increase was not a popular resolution to the problem. Amid accusations of patronage, mismanagement and waste, to ask for a 2% sales tax increase was outrageous. The County’s long record of patronage prompted the unions representing the nearly 10,000 Cook County employees to unite with local community groups to demand that the County create an independent temporary trusteeship that would oversee the daily functions of the Cook County Health System.

And, so, on Feb. 29, 2008, the County, in order to pass the budget, adopted an ordinance for the temporary trusteeship, along with a sales tax increase of only 1%. While this temporary victory is due in large part to the fight waged by the unions, the current Federal Budget delivers more cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, doctors and hospitals and will certainly have an impact on the Cook County Health System if there are no interventions from U.S. legislators.

The 2008 Budget fight managed to avoid the privatization pitfall that Grady Public Hospital faces in Georgia, but there is tremendous pressure from many in Cook County to privatize profitable Cook County health services and close or sell those that are not.

With the number of the uninsured growing, the tightly controlled delivery of care through denials for treatment and the growing grumblings of an economic recession, Cook County’s public healthcare system is in for a stormy ride over these next three years even with a trusteeship. The growing demand for a Single Payer system is a struggle that working people can engage in as a means of solving the healthcare crisis hundreds of thousands in Cook County face along with millions across the country. There is no other way that people will be able to get the health care they need unless there is a fight waged for it. Indeed, the health insurance industry and the tremendous financial consortiums that speculate on hospital and other health and drug-related industry market shares have far too much to lose. Working Americans, will confront these bastions of capital as the fight for a guaranteed system for the delivery of healthcare is waged. Without this fight, millions more will join the ranks of the uninsured and thousands more will grapple with the financial fallout of rising premiums and costs for healthcare. We either make this fight now or continue to pay with our health and potentially our lives.

By Emery Wright

Initiated by the organizers of the annual Poor People's Day at the Capitol (Georgia Citizens’ Coalition on Hunger, Project South, and the Up & Out of Poverty Now! Coalition) and inspired by the 40th anniversary of the historic Poor People's Campaign for Economic Justice launched by Dr. King in 1968, a multi-issue coalition of grassroots organizations brought the voices and demands of millions of working and poor people to the Georgia State Capitol, January 26th, 2008. We stood side by side with movements holding actions around the world answering the World Social Forum’s call for a Global Day of Action.

Poor People’s Day (PPD) at the Georgia Capitol is the legislative expression of a statewide Georgia coalition of grassroots organizations called Up & Out of Poverty Now! and is led by the Georgia Citizens Coalition on Hunger. In 1980 Poor People’s Day at the Capitol was created by community leaders to give space for poor & working people to meet with state legislators about issues that affect them. In 1991 Up & Out of Poverty Now! Coalition Georgia was founded and co-chaired by Hunger Coalition & Project South to build statewide power that can eliminate poverty in the state of Georgia. In 1995, Poor People’s Day was expanded to holding an education day before the legislative Action day.

Sandra Robertson, Executive Director of the Hunger Coalition reflected on the Day. “Poor People’s Day is a great day. It gives grassroots people the opportunity to give voice to the issues that impact their lives. This year, we were able to engage more people and gain widespread local television news coverage so that it was seen and heard that the people took over the downtown of Atlanta and we sent a resounding and clear message that we’re not happy with elected officials or the policies they produce. We have the power to make change happen and we will.”

In planning the 2008 Poor People’s Day at the Capitol, organizers wanted to expand the mobilization of people and respond to the call to action raised at the United States Social Forum in June 2007, to hold a “People’s Movement Assembly” in your local community. The People’s Movement Assembly process is one way organizations are working to build on the momentum of the first US Social Forum and engage communities to build organizing models to respond to local pressures and increase grassroots power. The date of 2008’s Poor People’s Day was changed to January from February to connect our local demands to coordinated actions happening globally for the World Social Forum Global Day of Action. The 2008 WSF Global Day of Action included hundreds of local actions by grassroots movements occurring simultaneously across the globe on that day.

A People’s Caravan of flatbed trucks, charter buses and vans from all over the state took over downtown Atlanta and raised banners at 6 locations including: Grady Hospital (Healthcare for the People), Atlanta Detention Center (Freedom for the People), MARTA (Accessible Transportation for the People), Luxury condos (Housing for the People), CNN Center (Media for the People), and Atl Public Schools (Education for the People). The Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless staged a Reverse Eviction at the Atlanta Housing Authority to protest the mass evictions and scheduled demolition of Atlanta Public Housing and the huge caravan for liberation converged on the Georgia State Capitol where SPARK (formerly Georgians for Choice) held a Reproductive Justice rally. People came from far and wide across the State of Georgia. Delegations of support came from North Carolina and a nation-wide initiative called Equal Voices for American Families Campaign gave financial support and kicked off their Georgia efforts that day.

The People’s Movement Assembly announced 12 Resolutions for Action that demand community-led changes and will inform the collective work of organizations at the grassroots of Georgia communities.

This article originated in the People's Tribune
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