The California Chronic Care Coalition (CCCC) continues to advance its work toward meaningful and responsible health care reform with the launching of its consumer website: www.chroniccareca.org. Designed to help build a healthier California, the website is aimed at the more than 16 million Californians with chronic conditions such as Asthma, Diabetes, Alzheimer’s Heart disease, Epilepsy and Multiple Sclerosis. The web site provides information, resources and a forum for patients, providers and legislators to discuss the prevention and wellness issues and the steps it will take to advance health care reform initiatives.
“Chronic disease is the public health challenge of the 21st century. Reforming California’s health care system will require a paradigm shift from ‘crisis centered care’ to ‘prevention centered care,’” stated Liz Helms, CCCC Chair. “The CCCC understands this prevention-centered philosophy and proposes a 7-point plan aimed at restructuring the health care system.”
“People who visit our website will be able to access valuable tools which will provide a better understanding of how we can all work together to mold our broken health care system into a model that works to improve quality, access and affordability,” Maria Robles, RN, Californians for Patient Care. “As a CCCC member, we are proud of the leadership provided by the coalition and are vested on the philosophy that access to health care is a human right and not a privilege.”
Currently, we know that 75% of health care spending goes towards people with chronic conditions. These persistent conditions — the nation’s leading causes of death and disability — leave in their wake deaths that could have been prevented, or lifelong disability, compromised quality of life, and burgeoning health care costs. The facts are shocking: