Crush Medical Bills
MEETING FOR THE WEEK OF MARCH 6, 2023
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Crush Medical Bills
Speaker: Jared Walker
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page. Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
To properly attend this meeting, please:
Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
Complete the attendance survey.
Everyone is also encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Message from our President
Dear fellow members,
As we welcome the month of March, we also acknowledge the monthly theme of "Water and Sanitation." Access to clean water and proper sanitation is a basic human right and a crucial factor in promoting good health and preventing the spread of diseases. As Rotarians, we understand the importance of this issue and continue to strive towards ensuring that everyone has access to these basic necessities.
However, we cannot ignore the fact that another crisis is affecting our communities - the mental health crisis. With the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have lost loved ones, had their social networks disrupted, and faced other struggles that have taken a toll on their mental well-being. Unfortunately, the stigma surrounding mental health issues often prevents people from seeking the help they need.
As we move forward with our year's focus on healthcare, let us not forget the importance of promoting awareness in this important area. I was particularly pleased to see that Rotary International President-elect R. Gordon R. McInally will focus on mental health during his term. In alignment with his goals, we can already start addressing mental health by providing resources and information on mental health, hosting programs on mental health, and creating a supportive and inclusive community where members feel comfortable discussing their mental health and seeking support if needed. We as Rotarians can play a crucial role in offering hope to those who are struggling with mental health challenges. We can help break down the barriers that prevent people from seeking help by raising awareness and providing support.
Let us work together to positively impact the lives of those affected by mental health challenges and healthcare issues in general, both within our E-club and beyond.
Yours in Service,
Angelica Marotta, PhD
President 2022-2023 Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
Rotary International District 5170
WEEKLY FUNNY WITH SHAGS
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!
A Vinyl Record
I found a vinyl record called "Sounds of the Wasps."
When I played it, I said to myself, "This doesn't sound like wasps."
I was right. I was playing the B-side.
INSPIRATION
Every week we share a short video highlighting innovation, education, entrepreneurship, or whatever we think might inspire you to see the world in new ways.
Artists Dan Harvey and Heather Ackroyd use grass to make portraits. Perhaps we are people who can find new service possibilities in the everyday things around us!
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
How It's Made: Car Tires
I never get tired of these videos (pun intended). I'd been to the Firestone Tire Plant as a youngster when visiting family in Akron before all manufacturing was outsourced. Quite an operation, but I remember it being quite smelly!
SERVICE REPORT
Tell us about service you’ve done recently in your community.
Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
HAPPY DOLLARS: Do Good by Sharing Something Good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it’s appropriate!)
Here are the happy dollars contributions from last week!
This section is usually updated in the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
Rory Olsen made a $20 donation.
Great week. The weather was warm and sunny. Cats were in a good mood.
PROGRAM: Crush Medical Bills
SPEAKER: Jared Walker
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub nor Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
This week's speaker, Jared Walker, founded Dollar For in 2012 in Portland, Oregon. Dollar For was born out of a desire to help people in medical crisis after watching his own family's experience. A medical crisis should not lead to a financial crisis. Jared is on a mission to crush as many medical bills as he can while making charity care known, easy and fair.
Millions of Americans are on payment plans or declaring bankruptcy for bills that they should not have to pay. The 2010 Affordable Care Act includes an often-overlooked provision: nonprofit hospitals must offer financial assistance programs in order to show a community benefit and keep their tax-exempt status. Known as charity care, these programs reduce or eliminate medical bills for low-to-middle income patients.
Walker explains that the power is in the hands of the hospitals. There is almost no federal oversight of charity care and so most hospitals do the bare minimum to educate patients about these programs and forgive their bills. A recent study showed that 72% of nonprofit hospitals spent less on charity care and community investment than they received in tax breaks. Combined, nonprofit hospitals in 2018 received $17 billion in tax breaks that were not passed on as community benefits.
Dollar For crushes medical debt by making charity care known, easy and fair. We educate patients about these programs, help patients navigate the application process, and call out hospitals that don’t comply with regulations. To date, Dollar For has secured over $22 million in debt forgiveness.
Members and guests, please welcome Jared Walker!
To learn more, go to:
Website: https://dollarfor.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dollarfor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dollarfor_
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dollarfor?lang=en
UPCOMING PROGRAM RECORDING SCHEDULE
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).
If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
THE ATTENDANCE SURVEY
Thanks for reading and watching this week’s meeting. You have two last things to do before you’re done.
We have a very short attendance survey below for you to fill out to record your attendance.
Visiting Rotarians, this is how you can get an email receipt to pass along to your club’s secretary as proof that you’ve attended our meeting if you need it for makeups.
Non-Rotarian Guests, we would love to see who is dropping by our meetings! This part is optional for you. If you think you may want to join our eClub at some point in the future, we would strongly recommend you fill out the attendance form as it will improve your chances of success for your membership application.
For all members and guests — we strongly recommend and ask that you leave a comment in our comments area below. Tell us how you enjoyed the program. Ask this week’s speaker any questions you might have. Or just stop by and say hello and tell us where you’re from!
Important: Once you submit the Attendance Survey below, please make sure you see the confirmation message. If you get an error message instead, please try the 'submit' button again, and if that doesn't work, please refresh the page and fill out the form again. Thanks!
