Call to Action - Time to Move Single Payer Health Care in California
Urge Your State Senator to Vote for SB 810 (Leno)
January 19, 2010
The renewed push to pass Senator Mark Leno’s SB 810, the California Universal Health Care Act, begins with deadlines that must be met this month. SB 810 must be voted on by the Senate Appropriations Committee by January 22 and by the full senate by the end of January.
SB 810 is nearly identical to former Senator Sheila Kuehl’s landmark bill (SB 840) to establish a single payer health insurance system for California. It would provide fiscally sound, affordable health care to all Californians, provide every Californian the right to choose his or her own physician, and control health care cost inflation.
SB 810 was passed by the Senate Health Committee last April but was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s “suspense file” last May, along with a majority of other Senate bills that had a fiscal impact. Further action was postponed to this month. And now it’s time to act! Tell your state senator to vote YES on SB 810 when it comes up for a vote.
SB 810 will not only provide high quality, affordable, guaranteed health care to all Californians, it will save the state billions of dollars in health care costs. At a time when the state budget deficit threatens to exceed $20 billion, and millions of Californians are without jobs and healthcare, the need to pass real health care reform in our state is greater than ever.
Action Needed: Contact Your State Senators
First step: Take action with the Senate Appropriations Committee.
If your senator is on the Appropriations Committee (Senators Kehoe [chair], Cox [vice chair], Alquist, Corbett, Denham, Leno, Liu, Price, Walters, Wyland and Yee), contact him or her NOW by phone, fax, or e-mail. Urge him/her to vote SB 810 out of committee.
Next step: Contact all other senators.
Assuming that SB 810 will be taken from the suspense file and passed out of the Appropriations Committee, we need to lobby all remaining senators to pass this crucial bill.
Find contact information for your state senator at www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html.
Local League and ILO presidents: Please send an official letter from your League to the senators in your League’s jurisdiction. Forward this alert to your members and colleagues and urge them to take action.
League members and others: Please call, fax, or e-mail your senator, acting as an individual. Share this e-mail with your friends and colleagues to encourage them to take action.
Use the points to make and/or the sample letter below to send the message that SB 810 is a critical reform California’s people need. While the nation is mired in the health care reform debate, California can lead the way with a system of affordable, quality care accessible to all.
Keep us informed: Send us an e-mail message at advocacy@lwvc.org to let us know what action you have taken and any responses you have received.
Points To Make
- SB 810 will guarantee quality, affordable health care to all Californians in a system that is fiscally sound and controls cost inflation.
- SB 810 requires no new spending on health care. The system will be paid for by federal, state and county monies already being spent on health care and by affordable insurance premiums that replace all premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket payments and co-pays now paid by employers and consumers.
- SB 810 guarantees our money goes to care, not administration. Our current system wastes as much as 30 percent of every health care dollar on complicated benefits schemes, enrollment procedures, and access limitations. SB 810 mandates that the system spend 95 percent of our health care dollars on actual care. It diverts $20 billion away from administrative overhead and into actual care.
- It is critical that our senators understand the importance of passing single payer health care in California. At a time when our state budget faces another $20 billion-plus deficit in 2010, and millions of Californians are without jobs and health care, we must take the important step of passing REAL health care reform.
Sample Letter (personalize this letter if you can)
The Honorable [first name, last name]
California State Senate
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Senator [last name]:
I urge you to vote YES on SB 810 (Leno) when it comes before you for a vote this month.
SB 810, the California Universal Health Care Act, will provide every Californian the security of comprehensive, quality health care benefits in a system that gives everyone the right to choose his or her own physician and controls health care cost inflation.
SB 810 makes good fiscal sense. It combines the federal, state and local funds already spent on health care with affordable insurance premiums that replace all the premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket payments and co-pays now paid by employers and consumers. It limits the amount that can go to administrative overhead to five percent of our health care dollars, avoiding the huge waste in our current system.
Escalating health care costs are a burden to all Californians personally as well as to state and local governments that are major employers and safety net providers. With our state budget facing another $20 billion-plus deficit, and with millions of Californians without jobs and health care, we must take the important step of passing REAL health care reform. Please support SB 810.
Sincerely,
[your signature]
Our Position
The League of Women Voters believes that a basic level of quality health care at an affordable cost should be available to all residents. View our position here.
For more information: Visit the LWVC Grassroots Health Care Reform Web page, or contact LWVC Health Care Program Director Barbara Storey at healthcare@lwvc.org.