Costa Mesa : Public’s Views on State of Health Care Sought

A long-term countywide project to increase public involvement in forming health-care policy will be launched tonight in Costa Mesa when a nonprofit group called California Health Decisions holds a public forum to discuss bioethical issues.

The 7:30 p.m. meeting in the Costa Mesa City Council chambers will focus on suchissues as the right to die, the allocation of health care funds and the right of access to medical treatment.

Ellen Severoni, project director for California Health Decisions, said the forum would offer an opportunity to explain the project, which over the next 14 months will gather local opinion on the quality and availability of health care.

A series of small group meetings throughout the county from October through February, will lead to about 12 larger town hall meetings from February through May. All of the meetings will offer a forum for public opinion on the state of health care.

The town hall meetings will also be used to select delegates to a “Citizens Health Care Parliament,” to be held locally in October, 1986. The results of that parliament will be passed on to insurance companies, the health-care industry and politicians, Severoni said.

“Tough decisions about health care will have to be made over the next decade,” she said. “We can give citizens a lot of information. We tend to think that people who have a lot of information can make good decisions.”

According to Severoni, similar projects are taking place in five other states, and California Health Decisions hopes to eventually expand the public meetings to other parts of California. Fund raising and a volunteer drive will also get under way tonight, she said.