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News :: Civil & Human Rights : Health |
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Medicare 100 and Plus Programs Reinstated! |
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by via email
(No verified email address) |
23 Mar 2005
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Today we are deeply pleased to announce that CCHCC and Provena Covenant Medical Center have settled the lawsuit filed by CCHCC in 1999, and together we are reinstating the Medicare 100 and Medicare Plus Programs. |
Dear Friends,
We are happy, proud and grateful to announce that one of our longest and toughest struggles has ended in victory!
It has been more than six years since Provena Covenant ended their participation in the Medicare 100 and Medicare Plus Programs, and left 1100 local low-income seniors and people with disabilities without access to affordable health care.
Today we are deeply pleased to announce that CCHCC and Provena Covenant Medical Center have settled the lawsuit filed by CCHCC in 1999, and together we are reinstating the Medicare 100 and Medicare Plus Programs.
We are grateful to the new administrative leadership at Provena Covenant Medical Center. Provena Coveant's CEO, Mark Wiener, and Senior Vice President Cheryl Harmon, were instrumental in making this day possible. With Mr. Wiener and Ms. Harmon, we were able to settle the lawsuit amicably and out of court, and we all worked in good faith together to be able to reinstate the Medicare 100 and Medicare Plus Programs.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the help and support of thousands of our members throughout the years that we were conducting the "Save Medicare 100/+" campaign. Thank you for coming to our meetings, prayer vigils, protests, and rallies, and thank you for the phone calls you made, the postcards you signed, and the letters you wrote whenever we asked you.
Also, tremendous gratitude is due to attorney Robert G. Kirchner, along with Mike Doyle and Ruth Wyman, who for several years have assisted us with the lawsuit. Mr. Kirchner provided his services pro bono and represented CCHCC, while Mike Doyle and Ruth Wyman put in countless hours helping with legal research. Other friends, including Michael Petruzzi, Wilford Bott, Tony Fabri, and Milton Otto helped early on with legal research and writing.
We have lost many friends and members along the way -- this was a long struggle affecting many elderly people who were in the midsts of their own health struggles. Even as we miss them and we are sorry that they could not be here to see this day, and to see their beloved programs restored, we are forever grateful for the programs they created, and their encouragement which inspired us to keep the struggle alive, in any way we could.
Today, with the reinstatement of these Programs, we honor our members, our friends, and our community, and we celebrate Provena Covenant's renewed commitment to its mission and our community under the leadership of Mark Wiener and Cheryl Harmon.
Please find out more about this struggle and these important programs on our website at http://www.healthcareconsumers.org/Med100+/med100+.html.
And again, thank you for your support.
If you have any questions or need more information, please feel free to contact me at claudia (at) shout.net or (217) 352-6533, ext. 11.
Thank you again for your support!
Sincerely,
Claudia Lennhoff |
This work is in the public domain |
