Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
employment services to veterans and military service members; also increase funding available for <br />CDBG, EDA and HOME programs. <br /> <br />Medicare for All <br />As efforts move forward at the federal level to improve and/or replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act and <br />address the ever-growing need for health care services and increases in health insurance premium costs, <br />efforts should move forward to consider the 2015 “Medicare for All” legislation (HR 676) proposed by <br />Representative John Conyers. This legislation would expand the Medicare program to provide all <br />individuals residing in the United States and territories with free, tax-funded, medically necessary health <br />care including primary care and prevention, prescription drugs, emergency care, long-term care, mental <br />health services, dental services, and vision care. This Medicare expansion would be paid for in part <br />through taxes (in place of no longer needed insurance premiums), but also by savings realized through <br />the provision of preventative universal healthcare and the elimination of insurance company overhead <br />and hospital billing costs. An analysis of HR 676 by Physicians for a National Health Program estimates <br />immediate savings at $350 billion per year. Others have estimated long-term savings amounting to 40% <br />of all national health care expenditures due to expanded preventative health care service delivery and <br />the resulting averted costs for major health care services. <br /> <br />End Homelessness for Veterans, Families, and People Experiencing Chronic Homelessness <br />Support funding for Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) <br />program that supports proven, cost-efficient solutions to ending homelessness, including permanent <br />supportive housing and rapid re-housing. Support funding for HUD Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) to <br />continue investments in shelter operations and rapid re-housing; Fund Department of Veteran Affairs <br />(VA) homeless assistance programs, including the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) <br />program and the HUD-VASH program. Support all of the above programs at the levels necessary to <br />return all people experiencing homelessness to permanent housing and ensure access to needed <br />training and employment services. Support funding in the above programs to empower system-level <br />analysis and management that ensures homelessness is rare, brief and non-recurring. <br /> <br />Support the Stepping Up Initiative Regarding Mental Health Issues in Prisons ** <br />Counties in the United States routinely provide treatment services to an estimated 2 million people with <br />serious mental illnesses in jails each year. The prevalence rates of serious mental illnesses in <br />confinement facilities are three to six times higher than for the general population. Furthermore, <br />county jails spend two to three times more on adults with mental illnesses that require interventions <br />compared to those without these treatment needs. In North Carolina, almost 13% of the prison <br />population requires some type of intervention due to mental health issues. Without the appropriate <br />treatment and services, people with mental illnesses can continue to cycle through the criminal justice <br />system, often resulting in tragic outcomes for these individuals, their families, and their communities. <br />7