Letter: Meet to discuss health insurance reform in HMB Feb 26

On Monday evening, February 26 from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm, a public meeting on health insurance reform will be held in the Community Room at Lesley Gardens, 701 Arnold Way in Half Moon Bay.

The meeting will feature a presentation and discussion of the California Universal Healthcare Act (CUHA). CUHA will establish universal health care in California by creating the California Health Insurance System, a single payer for all health care in the state. CUHA is designed to provide affordable health insurance coverage with an extensive benefits package, while controlling health care costs and improving health care outcomes. Recent studies have shown that a single-payer system like that proposed in CUHA can provide health care coverage for all state residents and still save money on overall health care expenditures. CUHA was introduced as Senate Bill 840 during the last legislative session and passed both houses of the legislature, but was vetoed by the governor. It has been re-introduced this year.

Richard Watters, Co-Chair of the Peninsula Chapter of Health Care for All, will speak about the inadequate quality of health care and what to do about it. He will also describe challenges that patients and medical professionals encounter in the current system of care.

The meeting is sponsored by the Coastside Democrats and the Peninsula Chapter of Health Care for All-California. The public is invited and admission is free.

For additional information, call Dennis Paull, 650-712-0498

The Legislature will again take up the task of expanding the number of California residents with health insurance. The target will be trying to get all children insured. There are at least four bills in the hopper, one sponsored by the Governor, one by Assemblyman Nunez, one by Senator Perata and SB 840 by Sheila Kuehl.

Last year SB 840 passed out of the Legislature on a mostly party line vote. It was the first time that a single payer health insurance plan had ever passed the Legislature. The Governor vetoed it but the reasons he gave for the veto didn’t address the main points of the bill. The real issue at hand is whether a privately run health insurance market with a 25% to 30% overhead should be replaced with a single payer insurance plan with under 5% overhead that covers all residents.  This plan is much like Medicare for everyone except that the coverage is much better and will lower the cost to business and consumers compared to any other plan.

All residents will be covered regardless of existing conditions. There will be no premiums, deductibles or co-payments. It will be paid for by a combination of payroll tax and unearned income taxes that will total less than what most consumers pay today. Emergency rooms will no longer be the doctor of last resort since everyone will be covered. Prevention will be an important method of reducing costs.

And best of all, consumers can choose any licensed health care provider in the State. They will no longer have to choose from a list of providers as determined by their employer’s plan or change doctors if they change jobs.

This meeting will cover the essence of SB 840 and the plans to get it signed by the Governor before the end of this legislative session.