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Sustainable Food and Lower Healthcare Costs

July 28th, 2011 JALSA No comments

Sustainable Food and Lower Healthcare Costs

It’s been an exciting summer at JALSA.  Several meetings with former Undersecretary of Agriculture Gus Schumacher, with Kevin Concannon, Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services; Phil Edmundson, leading Boston business advocate for healthier food,  Judith Kurland, former Regional Director U.S. Health and Human Services, as well as leaders at Tufts Health Plan and other health care providers have led to one conclusion:  Healthy, sustainable food can prevent chronic illness like diabetes and heart disease, and health care providers need to step it up!

JALSA leaders from our Environmental Justice Task Force are teaming up with JALSA members passionate about health care to call on public and private leaders to target funding towards programs that bring down the cost of sustainable healthy food, through public funding and private rebates from insurers and employers.

JALSA Joins the Prevention Trust
Thanks to the leadership of some of our younger members, JALSA is proud to announce that we are signing onto the campaign to include Community-Based Prevention in Payment Reform.  As the State Legislature considers how to lower health care costs, this campaign calls on legislators to invest in community health measures — such as bike lanes and healthy food programs –  that can lower costs by preventing disease before it starts. Led by the Boston Public Health Commission, Health Care for All, Health Resources in Action, and the Massachusetts Public Health Association, this campaign asks the legislature to establish a trust that would be dedicated to community grants promoting preventative community measures.
Action Needed
We encourage other organizations and individuals to sign onto the campaign.  We urge you contact leadership of other organizations concerned about health, health costs, preventive efforts.
Click here for more information.
Email annie@jalsa.org to get involved in this project.

The need for more prevention measures was recently emphasized in this Boston Globe Article.

Remember to shop at Farmers’ Markets.   Good healthy fruit and vegetables available and more likely to feature food without heavy duty transportation costs.    Go to www.farmfresh.org and you can find farmers’ markets close to your home or office.

Sheila Decter, Executive Director
Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action
Categories: Health and Environmental Justice Tags:

Researchers Needed – Food and Health

July 28th, 2011 JALSA No comments

Need Researchers! Can You Help?

As JALSA approaches employers, health insurance companies and government leaders about access to sustainable food, we are looking to demonstrate that providing incentives for healthy food can lower healthcare costs.
We need research! Can you help?
We are looking for studies demonstrating that incentivizing healthy food promotes healthier habits, or studies demonstrating that incentives improve health itself.  Do you know previous studies, useful  databases, or can you volunteer to do some looking?  Let us know!   Contact annie@jalsa.org
Categories: Information Tags:

The Paid Sick Days Act

July 24th, 2011 JALSA No comments

Paid sick policy could save Mass. $22m

Click here for Hearing Update and Media Coverage3

Updated: Thursday, 14 Jul 2011, 8:54 PM EDT

BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) – In the spring, state Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Joanne Goldstein said paid sick leave is a workers’ “basic right.” Now lawmakers are responding with legislation that could make it law.

The Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development held a hearing Thursday for a pair of bills that legally require businesses in Massachusetts to provide paid sick leave to their employees.

“The workers who cannot afford to take a sick day, those are the ones who don’t have it, the ones who are working for minimum wage,” Sen. Patricia Jehlen (D-Somerville), a lead sponsor of the bill.

“It’s about healthcare for all, it’s about social justice, equitable justice,” said Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera (D-Springfield), who serves as House chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development.

In a research study conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), results show that the Commonwealth could save $22.7 million dollars in emergency room costs with a paid sick leave policy.

Rep. Kay Khan (D-Newton), another lead sponsor of the bill, adds that her legislation will encourage a healthier work environment.

“I know I encourage people to stay out of my office if they’re ill because we don’t want to infect the entire office,” said Rep. Khan.

But small business owners insist that financially speaking, they’re already at the end of their rope. They’re struggling with mandatory health insurance, the recession and other employee obligations they can’t afford.

“This paid sick leave bill is one more high cost and small businesses have nothing left to give to this,” said William Vernon, the Massachusetts director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).

Small business advocates add that the government shouldn’t interfere with private business and “one-size” paid sick leave legislation, “doesn’t fit all”.

“A lot of small employers have part-time employees, seasonal employees,” said Jon Hurst, the president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. “A lot of those employees are not looking for benefits. They’re looking for higher pay per hour.

Opponents of the legislation express concern that sick benefits could be abused on a nice sunny day in Cape Cod, but supporters say it’s the workers who are being abused when they must choose between working while sick or taking a pay cut.

Mandatory paid sick laws are active in San Francisco, Milwaukee, and Washington D.C.

Categories: Economic and Social Justice, Health and Environmental Justice Tags:

JALSA Outreach Conversations

July 7th, 2011 Sheila Decter No comments

As JALSA celebrates its 10th anniversary, we are launching an Outreach Campaign of conversations which will help to guide our organization’s future.

As part of this process, we are asking people to reflect on what JALSA is doing now, what their hopes are for Jewish social justice in our community, and how we can change and grow to ensure there will continue to be a vibrant progressive Jewish voice in the future.  We are asking these questions of our own members, allies in the community, and others who care about our mission.  The main goal of these conversations is to get community input and reflection as we envision our future.

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If you’ve participated in one of these conversations, here is aLINK TO THE RESPONSE FORM

If you are interested in taking part in one of these conversations, please email: annie@jalsa.org

Categories: Information Tags: