Health Insurance

Elia Powers Costa Mesa has the third-largest population of adults without health insurance in Orange County, a recent report shows. The city has an estimated 22,238 uninsured residents above the age of 18, according to data from the Orange County Health Needs Assessment, a nonprofit agency that studies health-related topics. Only Santa Ana and Anaheim have more uninsured adults, the report indicates. Newport Beach and Newport Coast are at the bottom of the list, with 1,365 and 1,166 uninsured adults, respectively.

Elise Gee COSTA MESA -- Health outreach workers hope to encourage the immigrant Latino community to sign up for federal- and state-subsidized health insurance at a Healthy Communities Fair on Sunday. Organizers at the Orange County Congregation Community Organization expect 1,000 families to attend the health fair, which will take place at St. Joaquim's Catholic Church in Costa Mesa. A number of services and screenings will be provided but the main objective is to get families to enroll in health insurance programs.

The Lestonnac Free Clinic is hosting a countywide medical event featuring health and dental care at no cost from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Services will be provided along with children's activities, live music and the distribution of clothes at Lighthouse Church, 1885 Anaheim Ave., Costa Mesa. Lestonnac Free Medical Clinic was established in 1979 with a focus on providing care for local families that can't afford health insurance. It is partnering with the Coalition of Orange County Community Health Centers, Mariners Church, Stanbridge College and St. Verena Health Center for Saturday's event.

-- Jennifer Kho SANTA ANA -- Members of more than 14 Orange County churches are coming together today to discuss health-care needs for working families. The Orange County Congregation Community Organization, a faith-based nonprofit group, has organized the town hall meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, 1100 Center St., Santa Ana. "It is very important that we have health-care insurance access for working families," said Paty Madueno, a member of St. Joachim Church and a Costa Mesa resident.

It is unfortunate the Daily Pilot has given a forum ("Harman enters health fray," July 26) to State Sen. Tom Harman, a politician who, through the 2006 election, has taken $250,000 from special interests with a stake in maintaining the current system. The article largely rehashes the standard health insurance industry talking points, most of which, on closer examination, are not true. OK, Sen. Harman, we get it. We can't fix the health insurance nightmare because of illegal immigration.

Health-care benefits for City Council members have become controversial, one of the few issues that has united both the right and the left (although for different reasons). There are multiple levels of the controversy. The most basic question is whether the council members should receive any health benefits at all. Many citizens believe that health care is a personal responsibility and don't believe the government should be involved in providing health care, whether it is the national "ObamaCare" or local city council health benefits.

At 9 a.m. today, Progressive Christians Uniting is sponsoring a forum — “Being the Good Samaritan: Finding Your Voice in the Health Care Discussion” — at St. Mark Presbyterian Church, 2200 San Joaquin Hills Road, Newport Beach. Most religions believe that central to faith is the concept of loving our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus’ ministry centered on healing like giving sight to the blind, curing the sick, freeing the possessed and helping the lame to walk with heads held high.

Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) recently introduced a bill requiring state regulators to sign off before insurance carriers drop a policyholder accused of failing to disclose a preexisting medical condition. The bill is an answer to complaints that some health insurance companies cancel policies after a customer gets sick. Should the state get more involved in regulating health company insurers?   The state should not place a government bureaucrat in charge of deciding what is best for patients or their policies, which appears to be an indirect way of instituting state-controlled health care.

Celebrating a 90th birthday Helen Trautwein celebrated her 90th birthday June 3 with more than 100 family members at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach. Trautwein came to Costa Mesa in 1933, the year she was married at Christ Church by the Sea in Newport Beach. In WWII she worked as a first aid instructor for the Red Cross. The mother of four spent her time working with her children as a Girl Scout leader, a Cub Scout den mother, a PTA president, a room mother and a camp nurse.

Regarding ?Keep government out of the marketplace,? It?s a Gray Area, Aug. 16: Dear Jim, You missed the boat with your conclusion that the government should be kept out of the marketplace. I will remind you that our nation is suffering from its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression because our government was so blindly inactive in the world of capitalism. Ever since Ronald Reagan took over the reins of executive power, he, with congressional approval, began deregulating the major financial institutions ?

Since my last column about health care appeared in this space, the system has continued to gallop toward disaster. Today, under the federal government's "leadership," we often pay several times more in the United States for the same prescription drugs that are sold in other countries; an average MRI here costs $1,080, while it only costs $510 in Germany; and doctors here charge twice as much for hip replacement surgery as do doctors in Australia....

The Lestonnac Free Clinic is hosting a countywide medical event featuring health and dental care at no cost from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Services will be provided along with children's activities, live music and the distribution of clothes at Lighthouse Church, 1885 Anaheim Ave., Costa Mesa. Lestonnac Free Medical Clinic was established in 1979 with a focus on providing care for local families that can't afford health insurance. It is partnering with the Coalition of Orange County Community Health Centers, Mariners Church, Stanbridge College and St. Verena Health Center for Saturday's event.

Newport Beach women rank No. 1 in Orange County when it comes to obtaining prenatal care, but also rank highest for low birth weights, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency report. The study found that 96.2% of Newport Beach women received prenatal care between 2006 and 2008 — the highest in the county — but 8.8% of infants born during the same time period had low birth weight, higher than the countywide rate of 6.4%, the state's 6.9% and the nation's 8.2%. The possible cause of low birth weight babies in Newport Beach may be a two-pronged issue, said Diplomat on the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Daily Pilot's Doctor's Corner Dr. Jane Bening.

In the wake of Thursday morning's 5-4 Supreme Court decision on President Obama's controversial health care legislation, National Public Radio (NPR) asked prominent scholars and lawyers for their take on the issue. Among those who provided legal analysis was Erwin Chemerinsky, the founding dean at the UC Irvine School of Law. “The Supreme Court's decision does not change the law in the way that striking down the law would have. Since 1937, not one federal taxing or spending program has been declared unconstitutional.

Those without health insurance can get low-cost medical care through the end of the year at Eastbluff Medical Walk-In & Urgent Care, a company spokesman said this week. The Newport Beach medical facility at 2507 Eastbluff Drive is offering $69 office visits beginning Wednesday, which coincides with Urgent Care Awareness Week. "We're just hoping that the people who have been putting things off because of costs will come in and give us a try and have those things taken care of," said spokesman Claudio Varga.

Health-care benefits for City Council members have become controversial, one of the few issues that has united both the right and the left (although for different reasons). There are multiple levels of the controversy. The most basic question is whether the council members should receive any health benefits at all. Many citizens believe that health care is a personal responsibility and don't believe the government should be involved in providing health care, whether it is the national "ObamaCare" or local city council health benefits.

We write as leaders of faith in Orange County who profoundly care about our community. As clergy, we have a unique perspective on the lives of women, men and families. In recent years especially, we've seen our congregants lose their jobs — and their health insurance — making it very difficult to access and afford basic healthcare. Planned Parenthood serves these families when they have nowhere else to turn and plays a vital role in the health care of our community. We know that if one of our congregants needs care, we can count on Planned Parenthood to provide them with quality services and compassion.

Editor?s note: The following is the first of two parts on Chuck Cassity?s predictions for 2010. Here are my New Year?s predictions: 1. Having started every speech, e-mail, and Op-Ed piece, and Facebook and Twitter posting with the phrase, ?My Friends,? John McCain, upon discovering that he has no friends, will make the solemn New Year?s resolution to never use that salutation again. 2. The new health-care-reform legislation finally passes both houses of Congress in late February.

In a letter to his colleagues from California in the House of Representatives, U.S. Rep. John Campbell (R-Newport Beach) Wednesday warned against a Democrat-backed health-care reform bill in the Senate that could cost the state as much as $3 billion to $4 billion a year, according to the governor’s office. “Costs from this bill will begin to impact the state general fund starting in 2012 and will reach $3.2 billion per year upon full implementation of the bill in 2018,” Campbell wrote.