How do you hold a Health and Wellness Roundtable without mentioning disability?

This morning, the Disabled Politico team attended a Health Roundtable focusing on Health, Wellness, and Prevention, as part of the Rocky Mountain Roundtable series in connection with the Democratic National Convention. Participants included Bruce Bodaken, Dr. Denis Cortese, Michael Critelli, Sen. Tom Daschle, Trace Devanney, Dr. Patty Gabow, Jeff Kindler, Dr. Jeanne Lambrew, Thomas Menino, Gavin Newsom, Dr. Samuel Nussbaum, Barbara O'Brien, Dr. Stephen Oesterle, Linda Pryor, Kenneth Shachmut, Kevin Sharer, Hilda Solis, and Dr. Reed Tuckson. Sounds like a great place to hear innovative ideas about the future of disability policy, right?

Wrong. Though the panel participants mentioned diabetes, cancer, and other chronic conditions repeatedly, not a single panelist mentioned community-based care, the cost of medical goods like prosthetics, or even stem cell research. The panel discussed at length the cost of care for chronic conditions, yet the savings possible by de-institutionalizing adults with disabilities and providing home-based services were not noted. Even the cost of pharmaceuticals was mentioned only in passing, with no attention paid to the rapidly rising costs of drugs such as the injectables that can slow progression of chronic conditions like Multiple Sclerosis. With one in six Americans living with disability, the lack of attention to disability issues left a gaping hole in the panelists' proposals.

The panel focused primarily on prevention of chronic disease through proactive wellness programs, including education of families and the provision of healthful foods in  school lunchrooms and employee cafeterias. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino suggested that the new President should use Massachusetts as a model for designing a universal health care plan for the nation, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newson discussed his city's groundbreaking health care program that provides coverage to children ages zero to twenty-five, and the adult health care program that has provided care to 40% of San Francisco's uninsured.

Colorado Lieutenant Governor Barbara O'Brien discussed the design of communities and neighborhoods to make healthy choices easier, including making streets safer for children bicycling to school and expanding cycling and pedestrian paths. Here again was a smart idea that could also expand access and community participation for those with disabilities, and again the speaker failed to take a moment to  mention that pedestrian paths would also help persons with disabilities access the community, in turn reducing costs by improving health as Dr. Patty Gabow defines it-- "The mental, physical, and spiritual state that allows an individual to reach their full potential and engage fully in the community."

A roundtable of top thinkers and innovators in the health care industry produced many bright ideas. However, without the merest mention of the disability community's significance or the unrealized potential of individuals  currently disabled more by the lack of community-based services than by their underlying conditions, many in the audience were surely left skeptical about the panelists' committment to truly universal health care.