High and Low

I searched high and low for news on the California single payer legislation - SB 810 - that 4 Democratic state senators chickened out on (while toting the names of people like Cesar Chavez on their websites - who is completely disgraced by their legislative antics).

No surprise;  another photographed as best of friends with Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa who tossed Occupy Los Angeles out.  Why should single payer be any different?

According to The Union (serving Western Nevada County in California - but more informative than any national or California state-wide news source):

Nan Brasmer, President of the California Alliance for Retired Americans, stated: “This is a very sad day for seniors and all Californians. With millions of us uninsured or underinsured, SB 810 offered the only solution to our skyrocketing health care costs while covering everyone. And the added bonus is that it would save the State billions of dollars once implemented, at a time when essential programs for seniors are being slashed and out of pocket costs for health care have gone through the roof. We will continue to fight for single payer in the legislature and at the ballot box."

SB 810 would create a new California Healthcare System to provide health insurance for all Californians, replacing the private insurance providers. Critics claim that such as system, often referred to as “single payer,” would be too costly. “Not true,” said Dr. Henry L. Abrons, President of PNHP California. “Currently the U.S. spends twice as much as any other country on health care. We have plenty of money in the system, enough to insure 100% of us; we just need to spend it more wisely.” He continued, “The best way to save money is to take the private insurers out of the system. They are responsible for 30% of each healthcare dollar being lost to pay for exorbitant CEO salaries, lobbyists, sales and marketing, administration and shareholder profit. Medicare's overhead by contrast is only 3%. Californians would still be free to seek services from any medical provider in the private sector -- only the financing would change. The difference is that that everyone in California would be fully covered.”

According to yurbud, at Democratic Underground, all four targeted democratic senators continued to cop out and abstain, with 2 more democratic state senators joining them in their cowardice - Calderon and Correa.

yurbu adds:

Sadly, California Democratic legislators did exactly what I predicted in my letter to them:

As you know, previous bills passed both chambers only to be vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger, but with a Democrat as governor, there is a real chance that this could become law.

If a handful of Democratic senators block this historic opportunity, it will make a lot of us wonder if you guys actually care about average people or only do bold legislation when you know you have a business owned governor who can be depended on to veto it.

 Our government has become so corrupt at all levels even state legislators can't do what would be wildly popular and make them national heroes for fear of losing campaign donations and likely high paying jobs when they leave office as lobbyists, CEO's, and do-nothing board members. 

The state party needs to do something about this, and it needs to get on the governor's desk before he leaves office. 

Maybe instead of punishing the bad guys, we need to reward the good: donate to the state senators who voted for it and especially to the author of the bill, Mark Leno.

 The only other newspaper willing to stand up for healthcare for all (on a quick google search) is The Ocean Beach in California (for freaks, uppity women, and politicos) where it is astutely noted, "In Canada, the only way to see a doctor is to call one up and make an appointment."

Courtesy of wikiHow

How to hear through walls

As noted in another article at the website, one of the senators, Juan Vargas of the San Diego area, is funded by health insurance and pharmaceutical companies donating $140,000. to his congressional campaign.  Miriam Raftery at East County Magazine also writes:

To win his State Senate race over fellow Democrat Mary Salas, the California-based watchdog group Campaign for Consumer Rights reported that the insurance industry bankrolled front-groups which have collectively spent at least $1.46 million to defeat Salas and elect Vargas.

Last year, 7 million out of California’s 37 million residents were uninsured. Fewer insurers were offering health insurance and premiums have risen sharply. SB 810 seeks to address those issues.

“California is being overrun by out-of-control health care costs, which have a significant impact on families, businesses and the state budget,” says Senator Leno (D-San Francisco), author of the bill. “Health care premiums in the last few years have grown five times faster than our economy.”

SB 810 would create a public-private partnership to guarantee that every Californian would be entitled to medical, dental, vision, hospitalization and prescription drug benefits, while retaining freedom to choose their own doctors and hospitals. Far from losing benefits, most Californians would have access to far more healthcare coverage than at present.

To tell you the truth, I am also perplexed as to why Tuesday isn't front page news on PNHP?

Well thanks be to those underground posters with glass to the wall.  As even the website for the California State Legislature did not publish the two new detractors to the cause of defeating health care for all (in the event that possibility begins to rear its head once again).

What, not proud?  Aren't these state senators boasting about this achievement on their websites?  How they defeated a bill for single payer?  Right next to the photos of Cesar Chavez or the photo ops of themselves with teachers and elementary school students?

After all this has accomplished for their constituents' futures?



* boolian picture credit:  courtesy of sourcecon.com