In the eyes of many area Democrats the MCDP eroded its legitimacy with its high-handed endorsement of Rev Ward over Rev Fairchild for the vacated seat on the Dayton City Commission

One central issue that the June 6 MCDP Reorganization Meeting must deal with is how to build respect and support for the Democratic Party. We must deal with the core reasons that so many Democrats stay home and refuse to vote. We must deal with the fact that the party has lost legitimacy. At the June 6 Meeting, I’m proposing ten changes to the MCDP Constitution. I believe that in order for the Democratic Party to gain respect and support it must address: Its Purpose, Its Structure and Its Legitimacy.

PURPOSE

I’ve look at a lot of county constitutions, mostly from counties in Ohio, but in other parts of the nation as well. Almost all constitutions fail to state the mission of the organization. A few say that the mission of the county organization is to elect Democrats, a few say that their mission is to advance a progressive agenda.

Under PURPOSE, the current MCDP Constitution has these cryptic words: “In accordance with the provisions of Section 3517 of the Ohio Revised Code, this organization shall be the ‘Controlling Committee’ of the Democratic Party of Montgomery County.”

I am proposing a change in the constitution so that this is the statement of PURPOSE:

The purpose of the Montgomery County Democratic Party is to unite Montgomery County Democrats within an extended MCDP community that nurtures, prepares and elect candidates that are of the people, for the people.

The current constitution has no PREAMBLE. Here is the one I am proposing:

WE THE REPRESENTATIVES of Montgomery County Democrats — in order to form a grassroots Democratic party organization that empowers representative democracy throughout the county — do establish this Montgomery County Democratic Party Constitution.

The strategy of the Democratic Party, I believe, should be to empower representative democracy. It should be our mission. We must walk the walk in how we operate as a political organization and do our best as an organization to engage and represent county Democrats. Empowering democracy is a brand that Republicans can’t compete with. The Democratic Party has a big advantage in this single issue. We must challenge Republicans to work with us to help inform and engage the citizenry. Let’s challenge them to make it a county-wide goal to increase the rate of voting in every precinct. Let’s challenge them to work with us to provide opportunities for in-depth civics education for our youth.

STRUCTURE

The way that the MCDP is organized is very out of date. It uses a military structure that was very effective when the party controlled hundreds of patronage jobs. It was this power of patronage that brought discipline to the party organization. The Party had a hierarchy of authority — each stage of the hierarchy enjoying different privileges. At some level, if you had enough pull in the party, you could get your brother-in-law a good job working on the road crew. Being an active precinct leader and aggressive ward leader paid off and so there was competition for those positions.

Rather than being structured as a military organization, my proposed changes to the MCDP Constitution supports the type of structure appropriate for a volunteer organization. My suggestion is that the MCDP learn from successful volunteer organizations like the Kiwanis Club and structure the MCDP as a network of independent local groups — a Kettering Democratic Committee, a Miamisburg Democratic Committee, etc. These groups would be united in a common purpose and constitution, but each would have its own officers, budgets and projects. The MCDP Central Committee, then, would consist of the local leaders of these local groups who also are the jurisdiction’s precinct leaders. Young people would have a path to leadership with the party through their participation in their local Democratic Committee.

We need a grassroots structure attractive to volunteers where local leadership is inspired and nourished. Montgomery County has at least sixteen political jurisdictions with a council and school board. I’m hoping that the members at the Reorganization will agree with me that it would be wonderful if each of these jurisdictions had an active Democratic Committee exerting a positive influence in the jurisdiction — advancing civics education, positively engaging the youth, increasing voter turn-out, etc.

LEGITIMACY

The other suggested change to the Constitution deals with the general topic of legitimacy. The Central Committee is suppose to represent all of the Democrats in the county, yet in this election 60% of the positions on the Committee were left unfilled. This failure to fill the representative body with representatives undermines our legitimacy as a party.

Also undermining the MCDP legitimacy it its history of endorsements. A party is taking a huge responsibility when it chooses one Democrat over another Democrat. I very much opposed the decision of the Central Committee to endorse in the contest between the two Darryl’s. The decision of the MCDP to exert its will on Democrats and to tell Democrats to vote for Rev Ward, rather than Rev Fairchild, convinced many Democrats, particularly Fairchild supporters, that the MCDP is not a fairly run group.

If I thought such a bonehead decision came about from a deliberative process — a Central Committee fairly representing the Democrats in the county — I’d complain about the result, but not about the process. The problem is, I suspect that only a tiny fraction of the small membership of the Committee voted. I’d like to know how Kettering’s Central Committee members voted, but there is no record of the vote. If we are to have legitimacy we need to have transparency. I’d like to know who voted for the endorsement, who voted against it and who failed to vote. I believe that the MCDP Constitution should require such transparency.

I believe the elected members of the Central Committee at the June 6 Meeting must make Constitutional changes to deal with the PURPOSE, STRUCTURE and LEGITIMACY of the Montgomery County Democratic Party. I’ve written ten specific changes I’d like to see in the MCDP Constitution with the purpose of stimulating discussion and the hope that these changes can be modified as needed to get the needed support at the Reorganization Meeting.

In 2014, Ohio opted into the Medicaid Expansion made available to states through the Affordable Care Act. By May 2016, a total of 702,000 individuals were eligible for and received Medicaid coverage made possible by this Expansion. In 2016, at the request of the Ohio Assembly, The Ohio Department of Medicaid in cooperation with Ohio State University, conducted an in-depth study of the result of this Expansion. The information in this post comes from that study.

Medicaid expansion allowed most Ohioans age 19 through 64 with incomes at or below 138% of the federal poverty level (FPL) to become eligible for Medicaid. Prior to January 1, 2014, Medicaid eligibility for adults was limited to those with certain qualifying characteristics such as parenthood or disability, and the income limitation for most Medicaid eligibility groups was lower than 90% of the FPL

This Medicaid Expansion has made a huge difference in the number of low-income citizens in Ohio who have health or home insurance like the San Angelo Pronto Insurance from a useful source. In Montgomery County, 11.9% of all adults ages 19-64 are enrolled in the Medicaid Expansion. In total, 21.8% of adults in that age group are enrolled in Medicaid. The workers compensation coverage explained by Miller Hanover Insurance is something that must be read to understand the process better.

Ohioans who have insurance because of the Expanded Medicaid option provided through the Affordable Care Act

Most Expanded Medicaid enrollees were uninsured prior to obtaining Medicaid coverage, either because they had no prior insurance at all (75.1%) or they had lost employer-based insurance (13.9%). The study shows that most Expanded Medicaid enrollees were white (71.5%), male (55.8%), with a high school degree or less (58.1%), unmarried (83.8%), and without a child in the home (82.1%). Employment rates were similar for the Expanded Medicaid enrollees and pre-expansion enrollees (43.2% versus 41.5%)

Key Findings of the Study

• More than one-quarter of Group VIII enrollees were diagnosed with a chronic condition after enrolling in Medicaid, suggesting a high level of unmet medical needs. Medicaid has enabled those with chronic conditions to obtain evidence-based care… Enrollees are showing improvements in the management of their chronic conditions, including reductions in high-risk levels of blood pressure and cholesterol.
• Participation in Medicaid has made it easier for Group VIII enrollees to pay for basic necessities including food and housing. Medicaid coverage has enabled currently employed Group VIII enrollees to maintain their positions, and it has helped enrollees without jobs to seek employment.
• Since Expanded Medicaid enrollment, more than one-quarter (27.0%) of participants have been diagnosed with at least one chronic health condition. Many of these chronic conditions would likely have remained undiagnosed and untreated without Medicaid expansion.
• Nearly two-thirds of Group VIII enrollees (64.3%) reported that Medicaid improved their access to generalmhealth care. Similar improvements were reported for access to care in the areas of pharmacy, vision, and dental.
• Of Group VIII enrollees with positive screens for anxiety or depression, 44.0% reported that access to mental health treatment had become easier since enrolling in Medicaid, while 5.0% indicated that it had become harder

Interesting report from Policy Matters Ohio concludes that mandating work requirements for Medicaid enrollees would drive down health coverage in Ohio and would be contrary to Medicaid’s stated goals.

Policy Matters says: “Rigid work requirements would not meaningfully improve work participation, but they would kick people off of insurance, many who are working, reversing hard-won progress in Ohio. Physicians groups like the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics and others oppose work requirements because they impose unnecessary barriers to health care.”

“New work requirements will not meaningfully increase work participation because most Medicaid recipients In Ohio are already working — or, they are eligible to be exempted from work requirements. 61 percent of working-age Medicaid enrollees are employed: 40 percent, full time and 21 percent, part time. Another 22 percent have an illness or injury that prevents them from working and 12 percent are caregivers. Five percent are not working for other reasons: some are students, some retired and some are looking for work.”

Another research group, Community Solutions has lots of good information on this issue. One thing their research shows is how a Medicaid work requirement will result in a big expense to government. They write: “Currently, eligibility is primarily a byproduct of income. With work requirements, all 700 thousand expansion enrollees would have to go through some level of adjudication on the state, local and/or provider level.”

In its petition to Health and Human Services (HHS), this is the list of categories that Ohio is requesting will be exempted from Medicaid work requirement:

• 50 years of age or older
• Physically or mentally unfit for employment
• Participant in the Specialized Recovery Services Program
• Caring for a disabled/incapacitated household member
• Pregnant women
• Parent/caretaker/residing in same house with minor child
• Applied for or receiving Unemployment Compensation
• In school at least half-time
• Participating in drug or alcohol treatment
• An assistance group member subject to and complying with any work requirement under the Ohio Works First
  (OWF) program
• Applicant for or recipient of Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Limit to counties that have an unemployment rate of more than 10% or do not have a sufficient number of jobs to provide employment for the individual.

Work Requirement Increases Cost And Size Of Government

Community Solutions states:

“The reality of this and other work requirement proposals is that it will increase the cost of the program as it will increase the size and operational requirements of government. Data from Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania demonstrates this, with governments in those states reporting that the operational costs for implementation would number in the hundreds of millions

In Cuyahoga County alone, it is estimated that nearly 30 percent of the expansion population will have to go through some level of appraisal by a county case worker before eligibility is granted. This new process, which subverts the efficiency of the current, data-driven system to one that is more dependent on human activity, will increase the variable costs of the state and county governments as well as the providers who rely on eligibility to ensure predictable revenue cycles.

Cuyahoga County, in fact, has testified that this activity of appraisal and adjudication will increase their costs in the millions. In its calculations, Ohio does not contemplate the cost of administration on the state or local level. The state also foregoes including how the increase in uncompensated care may increase disproportionate share payments to hospitals, which is also a Medicaid expense.”