BLUE FOLDER ITEM
Blue folder items are additional back up material to administrative reports and/or public comments received after the printing and distribution of the agenda packet for receive and file.
CITY COUNCIL MEETING
SEPTEMBER 3, 2024
J.1 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS
• PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS
From: Mark Nelson (Home Gmail)
To: Judy Rae
Cc: CityClerk; [email protected]; [email protected]; info; [email protected] Subject: Letter to the Editor (and Public Comment)
Date: Saturday, August 31, 2024 4:06:15 PM
CAUTION: Email is from an external source; Stop, Look, and Think before opening attachments or links.
cc: Public Comment all Agencies
Dear Easy Reader News:
Update on BCHD’s consultant Gallup’s press release that claims that there are massive reduced medical costs in the three Beach Cities. When the Gallup email came out, it was very thin on basic facts, such as research citations and methodologies. Gallup used a variety of fluffy phrases like “credible and published secondary sources” and that the findings were “likely, in part, the result of efforts of” BCHD. We promptly sent data requests to BCHD asking for the details that Gallup and BCHD withheld from the taxpayers that paid the $400,000 Gallup price tag.
BCHD responded that it didn’t require Gallup to provide study details to the District. Apparently BCHD only received the advertising materials from Gallup. If that happened in the real world, heads would have rolled, up to and including the Director or CEO that signed the contract. BCHD’s CEO has long maligned the private sector’s rigorous methods and attention to detail. In a February 2021 BCHD retreat, CEO Bakaly said that some people “think we should measure every single thing we do with a um (sic) with a private sector mentality down (sic) down to every penny.” Yes, taxpayers would like to know that every penny BCHD spends is cost-effective and yields more benefits than costs for the health of the residents of the District. That's a taxpayer mentality.
So without the ability get any of the published research sources or statistical methods that we paid $400K in taxpayer funding for, we are going to recreate and publish a fully documented study using the expert skills of community members of our taxpayer groups in the Beach Cities and Torrance.
More to follow before early voting starts on October 7. Both StopBCHD and TRAO are still diligently working to protect the surrounding neighborhoods and District taxpayers from BCHD's proposed nearly 800,000 square foot tripling of the current campus buildings.
Mark Nelson
Redondo Beach
From: Mark Nelson (Home Gmail)
To: Judy Rae
Cc: CityClerk; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; info Subject: Letter to the Editor and Public Comment All Agency Boards and Councils Date: Monday, August 26, 2024 11:56:21 AM
CAUTION: Email is from an external source; Stop, Look, and Think before opening attachments or links.
BCHD used taxpayer funds to have Gallup find healthcare savings in the Beach Cities. Seems like a way to get around the District's advertising ban for its $30M bond measure. Gallup used a bunch of national data (remember "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo"- national data) to calculate some imaginary savings amount on healthcare costs for the Beach Cities. BCHD published an ad that claims "good health saves residents $182M per year." Really? "Residents?" Doubt that.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) conducts surveys (not BCHD taxpayer funded) that show the 54,000+ households of the Beach Cities pay about $260M total for healthcare annually. BLS defines healthcare costs as what households actually pay for their insurance, medication, hospitalization, services, and supplies. So if Gallup is right, our healthcare costs should be 60% lower than LA average or California average. But they aren't. They're lower than San Francisco, but almost the same as the state as a whole. So apparently your employer, insurance company, Medicare, Medi-Cal, etc. aren't sharing the savings - if there are any REAL savings.
We've filed a legal request for the full analysis since we paid for it with tax dollars. We'll let everyone know when we get it and what it says.
Mark Nelson
3+ Year BCHD Community Working Group Member
Redondo Beach
Math details at https://www.stopbchd.com/post/beach-cities-total-household-expenditures-onhealthcare-was-260m-in-2022-per-us-government-surveys From: Stop BCHD
To: Stop BCHD
Subject: PUBLIC COMMENT - ALL AGENCIES - Re: Gallup"s Claim of $182M in Healthcare Savings by BCHD Residents is
VERY UNLIKELY TO BE TRUE
Date: Thursday, August 29, 2024 1:25:51 PM
Attachments: Beach Cities Total Household Expenditures on Healthcare was $260M in 2022 per US Government Surveys.pdf CAUTION: Email is from an external source; Stop, Look, and Think before opening attachments or links.
The attachment demonstrates each and every number needed to compute the US government's Bureau of Labor Statistics value of total healthcare spending for the residents/consumers of the three Beach Cities. It shows a total spend of only $260M. BCHD's contractors work of $182M in savings is 60% of total healthcare outlays by consumers and is a ridiculously high number.
Since BCHD has not data from Gallup, the assumptions that the number is INCORRECT or that the savings go to Corporate profits of Insurance are likely the only two plausible answers.
The analysis of the $260M is thoroughly documented and demonstrates the aggregate cost by consumers according to the BLS CES - the official US Government measurement of consumer expenditures.
On Thu, Aug 29, 2024 at 12:23 PM Stop BCHD <[email protected]> wrote:
In a Public Records Act response, BCHD has provided information that for our Taxpayer Funded $404,000 contract with Gallup, we received no details of the analysis beyond the published press release.
Therefore, we are left with the either ACCEPTING or REJECTING the unsupported Gallup assertion that $182M of savings accrue to Beach Cities residents when the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey shows that Beach Cities residents paid, on average, only $260M for Healthcare expenditures in 2022 (last recorded year).
On its face, the assertion by Gallup that Beach Cities Healthcare costs are reduced by 60% to consumers is laughable, unsupported and must be REJECTED.
It must be noted that BCHD could not have provided any review of the study results because BCHD asserts that it received no additional materials from Gallup.
On Mon, Aug 19, 2024 at 2:41 AM Stop BCHD <[email protected]> wrote:
Gallup Claims BCHD Residents Healthcare Costs Fell $182M Because of Our Good Health. THAT’S A CLAIM THAT ISN’T LIKELY TO BE PROVEN TRUE! Using US Government math, the 54,592 households in the BCHD district paid about $310M for healthcare in 2022, the most recent year data is available from the government (see link below).
If Gallup’s claim were true and our healthcare costs were $182M lower because of our good health, then the BCHD residents should have only spent $128M for healthcare. That’s $2,345 per year per household. BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED, IS IT? So if $182M in savings happened, who got that money anyway? Not the healthy residents, that’s 100% for certain. If those savings went to us, then our annual healthcare expenses should be 60% lower. Did your health insurance, prescriptions and copays fall 60%? No one that we’ve talked with has seen any drops, especially not 60% healthcare cost reductions.
Like every other dollar BCHD spends, District taxpayers paid for the Gallup study. On behalf of the community we’ve requested the details of the taxpayer paid study and all correspondence between BCHD and Gallup.
In the meantime, we FACT CHECK the claim as VERY UNLIKELY.
As soon as we receive the details of the study that we taxpayers paid for, we’ll pass them along to you along with a FACT CHECK revision if needed.
(see https://patch.com/california/redondobeach/beach-cities-residents-save-182m-healthcareexpenses-yearly and https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/data/consumerexpenditures_selectedareas_table.htm for the data.)
Mark Nelson on behalf of StopBCHD.com, [email protected] PUBLIC COMMENT: ALL AGENCIES
BCC: Media
--
StopBCHD.com ([email protected]) is a Neighborhood Quality-of-Life Community concerned about the quality-of-life, health, and economic damages that BCHDs 110-foot above the street, 800,000 sqft commercial development will inflict for the next 50-100 years. Our neighborhoods have been burdened since 1960 by the failed South Bay Hospital project and have not received the benefit of the voter-approved acute care public hospital since 1984.Yet we still suffer 100% of the damages and we will suffer 100% of the damages of BCHDs proposal.
From: Mark Nelson (Home Gmail)
To: PRR
Cc: CityClerk; [email protected]; [email protected]; CityClerk; [email protected]; info; Robert W. Lundy; [email protected] Subject: Public Comment All Agencies - BCHD Fiduciary Failure - Re: Gallup Study PRR Revised Date: Thursday, August 29, 2024 12:01:11 PM
CAUTION: Email is from an external source; Stop, Look, and Think before opening attachments or links.
BCHD commissioned and funded a study by Gallup, and BCHD contractually failed to receive sufficient work product to vet the results. That is malfeasance on the part of the Board and Executives.
Gallup's study provides a ludicrous outcome of a Beach Cities RESIDENT savings of $182M per year on healthcare. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Study reports a total resident consumer expenditure level of only $260M per year on healthcare in the three Beach Cities of Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, and Manhattan Beach based on BLS's CES study of the MSA Los Angeles area.
It is literally impossible that a 60% reduction in consumer healthcare costs occurred in the Beach Cities. Have your health insurance rates dropped by 60%? Have your medication expenditures dropped by 60%?
The statement by BCHD "Good Health Saves Beach Cities Residents $182 Million Each Year" is unequivocally false. Residents do not have the 60% savings to show. BCHD has failed to vet the work of its consultant when its consultant's work resulted in valuation that would reduce healthcare costs by 60% in the Beach Cities.
Mark Nelson
Redondo Beach Property Owner
On Thu, Aug 29, 2024 at 8:37 AM PRR <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Mr. Nelson,
Please see below (in red) for the District’s response to your public records request received 8/19/24 that reads:
1. Provide documents demonstrating statistical models and statistical significance of the actions of BCHD reducing health costs in the 3 beach cities vs. all other factors, including but not limited to income, wealth, poverty levels, education levels, access to City and County open space, medical insurance coverage, medical insurance quality, race, employment levels and age.
Gallup's assertion that BCHD is responsible for any fraction of increased health or reduced health costs is unsupported.
2. Provide documents demonstrating the applicability national health cost data to the 3 beach cities, such that reduction in costs is statistically supported at a significant level.
There are no responsive records. Any statistical modeling related to this topic was conducted independently by Gallup. They did not provide us with their data.
Please note that if records you are seeking do not exist, BCHD has no obligation to create new records, or to obtain records from other sources, unless those sources are considered “prepared, owned, used by, or retained by” by the District.
If you believe we have not correctly interpreted your request, please resubmit your request with a description of the identifiable record or records that you are seeking.
Please note that the District may not respond to questions or comments included with your request that are not themselves requests for identifiable public records under the California Public Records Act. The lack of response by the District to any such questions or comments, including follow-up questions and comments, is not an indication of the District’s position on any topic or item, and should not be presented as such to any person.
Thank you.
From: Mark Nelson (Home Gmail)
Sent: Friday, August 16, 2024 11:24 PM
To: PRR <[email protected]>
Subject: Gallup Study PRR Revised
EXTERNAL EMAIL - CAUTION
1. Provide documents demonstrating statistical models and statistical significance of the actions of BCHD reducing health costs in the 3 beach cities vs. all other factors, including but not limited to income, wealth, poverty levels, education levels, access to City and County open space, medical insurance coverage, medical insurance quality, race, employment levels and age.
Gallup's assertion that BCHD is responsible for any fraction of increased health or reduced health costs is unsupported.
2. Provide documents demonstrating the applicability national health cost data to the 3 beach cities, such that reduction in costs is statistically supported at a significant level.
THE PRECEDING E-MAIL, INCLUDING ANY ATTACHMENTS, CONTAINS
INFORMATION THAT MAY BE CONFIDENTIAL, BE PROTECTED BY ATTORNEY
CLIENT OR OTHER APPLICABLE PRIVILEGES, OR CONSTITUTE NON-PUBLIC INFORMATION. IT IS INTENDED TO BE CONVEYED ONLY TO THE DESIGNATED RECIPIENT. IF YOU ARE NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT OF THIS MESSAGE,
PLEASE NOTIFY THE SENDER BY REPLYING TO THIS MESSAGE AND THEN DELETE IT FROM YOUR SYSTEM. USE, DISSEMINATION, DISTRIBUTION, OR
REPRODUCTION OF THIS MESSAGE BY UNINTENDED RECIPIENTS IS NOT AUTHORIZED AND MAY BE UNLAWFUL. PLEASE NOTE THAT
CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE BEACH CITIES HEALTH DISTRICT, ALONG WITH
ALL ATTACHMENTS OR OTHER ITEMS, MAY BE SUBJECT TO DISCLOSURE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT. THE BEACH
CITIES HEALTH DISTRICT SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CLAIMS,
LOSSES OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE DISCLOSURE OR USE OF ANY
INFORMATION, DATA OR OTHER ITEMS THAT MAY BE CONTAINED IN ANY CORRESPONDENCE.
From: Stop BCHD
To: Stop BCHD
Subject: Re: Gallup"s Claim of $182M in Healthcare Savings by BCHD Residents is VERY UNLIKELY TO BE TRUE Date: Thursday, August 29, 2024 12:24:03 PM
CAUTION: Email is from an external source; Stop, Look, and Think before opening attachments or links.
In a Public Records Act response, BCHD has provided information that for our Taxpayer Funded $404,000 contract with Gallup, we received no details of the analysis beyond the published press release.
Therefore, we are left with the either ACCEPTING or REJECTING the unsupported Gallup assertion that $182M of savings accrue to Beach Cities residents when the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Survey shows that Beach Cities residents paid, on average, only $260M for Healthcare expenditures in 2022 (last recorded year).
On its face, the assertion by Gallup that Beach Cities Healthcare costs are reduced by 60% to consumers is laughable, unsupported and must be REJECTED.
It must be noted that BCHD could not have provided any review of the study results because BCHD asserts that it received no additional materials from Gallup.
On Mon, Aug 19, 2024 at 2:41 AM Stop BCHD <[email protected]> wrote:
Gallup Claims BCHD Residents Healthcare Costs Fell $182M Because of Our Good Health.
THAT’S A CLAIM THAT ISN’T LIKELY TO BE PROVEN TRUE!
Using US Government math, the 54,592 households in the BCHD district paid about $310M for healthcare in 2022, the most recent year data is available from the government (see link below). If Gallup’s claim were true and our healthcare costs were $182M lower because of our good health, then the BCHD residents should have only spent $128M for healthcare. That’s $2,345 per year per household. BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED, IS IT?
So if $182M in savings happened, who got that money anyway? Not the healthy residents, that’s 100% for certain. If those savings went to us, then our annual healthcare expenses should be 60% lower. Did your health insurance, prescriptions and copays fall 60%? No one that we’ve talked with has seen any drops, especially not 60% healthcare cost reductions.
Like every other dollar BCHD spends, District taxpayers paid for the Gallup study. On behalf of the community we’ve requested the details of the taxpayer paid study and all correspondence between BCHD and Gallup.
In the meantime, we FACT CHECK the claim as VERY UNLIKELY.
As soon as we receive the details of the study that we taxpayers paid for, we’ll pass them along to you along with a FACT CHECK revision if needed.
(see https://patch.com/california/redondobeach/beach-cities-residents-save-182m-healthcareexpenses-yearly and https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/data/consumerexpenditures_selectedareas_table.htm for the data.)
Mark Nelson on behalf of StopBCHD.com, [email protected] PUBLIC COMMENT: ALL AGENCIES
BCC: Media
--
StopBCHD.com ([email protected]) is a Neighborhood Quality-of-Life Community concerned about the quality-of-life, health, and economic damages that BCHDs 110-foot above the street, 800,000 sqft commercial development will inflict for the next 50-100 years.
Our neighborhoods have been burdened since 1960 by the failed South Bay Hospital project and have not received the benefit of the voter-approved acute care public hospital since 1984.Yet we still suffer 100% of the damages and we will suffer 100% of the damages of BCHDs proposal.
From: Stop BCHD
To: Communications; [email protected]; info; CityClerk; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; Nils Nehrenheim; Paige Kaluderovic; Todd Loewenstein; Scott Behrendt; Zein Obagi; Jane Diehl; [email protected]; Michelle Bholat; Noel Chun
Cc: Kevin Cody; Garth Meyer
Subject: Public Comment - Public Data Shows the Beach Cities had WORSE HEALTH OUTCOMES than the 4-City Group Date: Tuesday, September 3, 2024 10:15:44 AM
CAUTION: Email is from an external source; Stop, Look, and Think before opening attachments or links.
Public Comment Under the Brown Act: All Agencies
A thorough analysis using unbiased, comprehensive, public data from the LA Co Department of Public Health demonstrates that the health outcomes of the three Beach Cities were OUTPERFORMED by a 4-City Group in LA County with lower income, education and insurance coverage.
The Gallup $182M study may have an accurate number using Gallup's undocumented data, but it is meaningless since living in the 4-City Group produced better health outcomes with no taxes from a Health District.
While we expected a lengthy research project evaluating the Gallup work given BCHD's failure in a $400,000 contract to get Gallup study details, we were surprised when our initial results showed that the group of Santa Monica/South Pasadena/Walnut/Rancho Palos Verdes had better health outcomes than the Beach Cities despite having NO HEALTH DISTRICT, LOWER INCOMES, LOWER EDUCATION LEVELS, and HIGHER RATES OF UNINSURED.
That finding concluded our work and we present it below with documentation, citations, and the use of all public data (something WE couldn't get from BCHD or Gallup).
The StopBCHD Analysis Team
Beach Cities Health Outcomes are Similar or Slightly
Worse than other High Income LA County Cities
BEACH CITIES HAVE SAME OR WORSE HEALTH OUTCOMES THAN
OTHER SIMILAR CITIES
Despite the recent BCHD sponsored Gallup study, LA County Department of Public Health public data shows that the Beach Cities residents (Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach , Redondo Beach) have similar or slightly worse health than a group of four similar, non-BCHD cities (4-City Group, Santa Monica, Walnut, South Pasadena, Rancho Palos Verdes) Gallup's study asserting some hypothetical $182M savings in health costs is irrelevant and meaningless. If we used the Gallup study methods with the Beach Cities and the 4-City Group above, we would conclude that Beach Cities healthcare outcomes were WORSE and MORE COSTLY that similar cities.
BEACH CITIES INCOME, EDUCATION, AND HEALTH INSURANCE
LEVELS FAR EXCEED THE NATIONAL AVERAGES
The composition of the Beach Cities to the US Average is so different that it is completely meaningless and the health outcomes are likely the result of higher income levels, higher education, lower uninsured levels, state policy, and other local factors. From the data below, Beach Cities have the highest income, education levels, and health insurance coverages, yet the health outcomes of the 4-City Group are marginally better than the BCHD group.
BEACH CITIES ARE MORE AFFLUENT
HH Income College Educated No Health Insurance
United States $
75,755 35.7% 8.0%
California $ 91,551 37.0% 6.5%
Beach Cities $ 154,693 72.3% 2.5%
4-City Group $ 125,915 66.9% 2.9%
BEACH CITIES HEALTH OUTCOMES ARE WORSE THAN THE 4-CITY GROUP DESPITE HIGHER INCOMES,
EDUCATION AND INSURANCE COVERAGES
EVEN IF GALLUP'S $182M HYPOTHETICAL HEALTH COST SAVINGS IS
ACCURATE - IT IS MEANINGLESS TO COMPARE HEALTH OUTCOMES
OF THE AFFLUENT BEACH CITIES TO THE US NATIONAL AVERAGES Hermosa Beach/Manhattan Beach/Redondo Beach Health Outcomes were OUTPERFORMED by NO HEALTH DISTRICT CITIES of Santa
Monica/South Pasadena/Walnut/Rancho Palos Verdes
See the full study at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LsKR5zKUz5bzO5cgQEl_1P5btl_X8zw0/view?usp=sharing BCHD Gallup Research Report Analysis
1. BCHD Gallup Research Report Analysis: Introduction
Background
Beach Cities Health District (Redondo Beach, CA) is currently fronting a $30M bond issue on the November ballot.
It consists of $9M to double the building construction budget for allcove Beach Cities (allcove BCHD) and $21M for early demolition of the 514 N Prospect Hospital and subsequent repair to damage caused to the land and parking lots. BCHD is blocked by State law from spending money promoting its $30M bond. (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mjc4hu0c79ax3KrauyzI5Pe2ciJqNk03/view?usp=sharing) Incident
On August 15, 2024, Gallup Inc. (privately held, for-profit company) published a public relations post that attempts to establish healthcare savings of $182M annually in the three Beach Cites and to link the $182M to BCHD actions. It appears to be a workaround so that BCHD gets a dollar-denominated press release to support their $30M bond. (https://news.gallup.com/poll/648008/good-health-saves-california-beach-cities-millions-yearly.aspx) Appearance of Conflict of Interest by Gallup
Gallup, a management consulting firm, is a long-time consultant to the District with a current $400,000 contract. It is estimated that Gallup’s total take of District taxpayer funding is in the millions. Further, Gallup, Inc (privately held corporation), Blue Zones LLC of MN (privately held corporation), Blue Zones LLC of DE (privately held corporation), and Sharecare, Inc (publicly held for profit corporation) all collaborate or subcontract in support of the Blue Zones program, sales of Blue Zones to cities and organizations, and provide Blue Zones work to BCHD. (Sources: BCHD data responses, DE and MN Sec of State, Wikipedia, NASDAQ) As a result, it appears Gallup has every reason to continue its cash stream from BCHD by providing pre-election support PR.
Gallup PR Post is Short on Citations and Methodology
Gallup refused to provide the citations for its work. It alludes to secondary data (typically peer-reviewed journal articles with full citations) but refuses to provide sources. Gallup also asserts that it is “likely in part” that the $182M is the work of BCHD. Again, no facts, no cites, no methodology, and no support.
BCHD Issued a Defective Contract without Right to Details from Gallup When confronted with a data request for more information about the $400,000 taxpayer funded contract expense and study, BCHD indicated that Gallup didn’t provide any details. Following review of the contract, BCHD failed to protect taxpayer payments by not providing requirements for Gallup to provide detailed work for vetting. CEO Bakaly has previously shown disdain for private sector methods in his comments in BCHD Board offsites regarding “private sector mentality” requiring accounting “to the penny”.
(Sources: BCHD data responses, Transcript of BCHD Board Offsite) BCHD’s Repost of the Gallup PR Post and Attempt to Link BCHD posted two back-to-back promotions on the BCHD.org website, the first regarding the so-called savings of $182M annually and the second a discussion of the $30M bond.
2. BCHD Gallup Research Report Analysis: Gallup Study Concerns and Defects Background
Gallup compared the obesity rates, smoking rates, and diabetes rates between the US average and the Beach Cities. Further, Gallup assigned a monetized value to the difference in disease levels. Gallup asserted that BCHD was “likely” responsible “in part” for the reduced healthcare costs. As stated above, Gallup provides a thin fact base with no citations.
Concerns about Gallup’s Study Theory
Gallup is proposing a theory of relevance for the valid comparison of disease rates between disparate socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic groups without the use of statistical control methods. Furthermore, Gallup is monetizing the value of the differences in disease rates and then attempting to credit them to BCHD with any further analysis. There are many causative differences in health conditions between the average US resident and the wealthier, Whiter, younger, better insured Beach Cities that Gallup deliberately avoids. That maximizes the value that BCHD can allude to producing.
As a simple example, the average height in the US of a male is 5’-9” while the average height of a male in California is 5’-10”. According to various peer reviewed studies, taller men earn more money. In fact, one study found that for each additional inch, men earned about $900 per year. Using the Gallup theory, the difference between the height of a California man and a US Average man provides $9,000,000,000 ($9 billion) of value to California men. That $9B valuation is just as useless as Gallup’s $182M assertion regarding the Beach Cities “savings” from different rates of disease incidence.
(http://www.timothy-judge.com/Height%20paper--JAP%20published.pdf) Defects to Taxpayer Ability to Review and Vet BCHD’s Report from Gallup Due to BCHD’s defective contract that prohibits taxpayer access to details of Gallup’s study, taxpayers are forced to rely on the Gallup press release. It is defective as a study report.
Gallup asserts that the incremental annual costs of diabetes, smoking and obesity are taken from secondary studies. Yet, Gallup refuses to provide those study references.
Gallup asserts that this comparison is valid yet Gallup provides no secondary studies or other references supporting the methodology.
Gallup asserts that “likely” BCHD is “in part” responsible for the unvetted, undocumented monetized result. Gally provides no justification nor quantitative results demonstrating BCHD programs created the savings. Furthermore, Dan Witters, Director of Gallup Research, stated during BCHD Board Meetings that Gallups research for BCHD is not intended to measure the value of any programs.
We are left with a defective contract from BCHD that fails to provide any access to the details needed for taxpayers to vet an assertion of $182M in savings. Taxpayers have paid over a quarter of a billion dollars in property taxes to BCHD in current day dollars and deserve better accounting and vetting of taxpayer expenditures than BCHD required from Gallup.
3. BCHD Gallup Research Report Analysis: Step 1 – Determine the Beach Cities Peer Group
Background
For the purposes of valuing healthcare and disease rate differences and savings, Gallup asserts that the average US resident is the appropriate peer group for the high income, well insured, well educated Beach Cites. That is Gallup’s unsupported assertion.
Alternatively, the myriads of external control characteristics of being a California resident, or an LA County resident or a high income LA County city resident are far more similar and relevant to each other than the average US resident.
Selection of Comparison Peer/Control Groups
We selected California, LA County, and a subset of the LA County Top 30 Income Cities as potential control groups for quantifying the healthcare and disease differences from being a Beach Cites resident. All Californians benefit form common laws, regulations, generally favorable climate, and generally accessible healthcare with support from California Department of Public Health (CADPH). LA County residents have additional benefits from the extensive LA County infrastructure, such as LA County Department of Public Health (LACDPH).
The Beach Cities (Manhattan Beach, income rank #6, Hermosa Beach, income rank #16 and Redondo Beach, income rank #22) are the only cities in the Top 30 income levels in LA County with a Health District. As such, the other cities, especially at or below income ranking, are valid comparators to determine if there are BCHD differences in healthcare outcomes.
Determination of Data Availability
Gallup’s taxpayer-purchased work is proprietary and covers only the Beach Cities. As such it is not useful for comparison. If Gallup provides data for a valid sample subset of the Top 50 income level cities in the LA County, then the Gallup data could be utilized.
(https://datacommons.techsoup.org/ranking/Median_Income_Household/City/geoId/06037? h=geoId%2F0620746&unit=%24)
Instead, LA County Department of Public Health has a relatively complete health outcomes dataset dating from 2018. While it may not be as current as Gallup, it is much more complete. Further, we do not know if Gallup identified BCHD as the client during data collection. If so, then the Gallup data would require significant bias analysis. (https://apps.gis.lacounty.gov/static/DPH/community-profiles/?Geo_ID=la_county) Based on the availability of complete data, the following four Cities listed below were available for comparison use and aggregated into the Top 50 group, in the same manner as the three Beach Cities were aggregated into an average Beach Cities (BC) group.
Rancho Palos Verdes #13
Walnut #27
South Pasadena #29
Santa Monica #47
Summary of Key Data Characteristics Using Public CADPH and LACDPH Using consistent 2018 data whenever available, the health outcome characteristics of the various groups were computed and presented below.
As one can easily conclude by inspection, the average US rates of obesity and smoking are much greater than for California or LA County. Diabetes rates and very similar for all three, despite the one-third lower levels of obesity in California and LA County.
The rates of obesity, diabetes and smoking are slightly lower in the Santa Monica/South Pasadena/Walnut/Rancho Palos Verdes group than the Beach Cities as of 2018. The data are consistent and sourced from LACDPH. This provides more evidence of potential bias in the Gallup work caused by identifying BCHD as the client (if that occurred).
Demographically, the Beach Cities and Top50 four city group are similar with the Beach Cities having a higher average income level.
4. BCHD Gallup Research Report Analysis: Conclusions
No Further Analysis or Information from Gallup is Needed Public, unbiased, non-proprietary data from LA County shows that Beach Cities residents’ health outcomes are similar to, or slightly worse than, other cities with similar outcomes, demographics, etc. in LA County.
The Beach Cities Have Similar Health Outcomes as Other High Income LA County Cities Very unexpectedly, we have no reason to further review the Gallup methodology or citations due to the lack of any preferential disease levels in the Beach Cities compared to the four City comparator of Santa Monica/Walnut/South Pasadena/Rancho Palos Verdes. The data do not support any reduced levels of disease in the Beach Cities compared to other similarly situated LA County Top 50 income cities. In fact, BCHD may be performing worse in the Beach Cities than no Health District service at all. That moots the need to review the dollar value assumptions and citations of Gallup.
BCHD’s Use of Proprietary Gallup Data Denies Access to Taxpayer Funded Study Work BCHDs failure to write a contract with full disclosure, coupled with BCHDs lack of analysis of surrounding relevant cities creates the illusion of BCHD performance. When compared to a proper comparator group using unbiased, public data from LA County Department of Public Health, BCHD performance is the same or slightly worse than having no Health District.
Gallup Should Provide Details on BCHD Studies to Correct the Contract Defects Gallup should correct for its client’s error or lack of transparency by providing full details on any further BCHD studies.
Gallup’s $182M “Savings” Level Relative to the US Average Health is Meaningless While it may be accurate given the methods and data of Gallup (we have not pursued that issue given the outcome that Beach Cities residents have the same or worse health outcomes as the Top50/4-City residents) it has no relevance. The Beach Cities perform as expected relative to their demographics, location, income, education levels, and other factors.
There is No Positive Health District Effect
Health outcomes in the 4-city group of Walnut/Santa Monica/South Pasadena/Rancho Palos Verdes are the same or superior without any Health District taxation or services.