Call to Action - SB 810, Single Payer Health Care, Up for Critical Vote in Assembly

See also Health Care or PDF Version of this Call to Action

Urge Your Assembly Members to Vote for SB 810 (Leno)

August 20, 2010

TO ALL LOCAL LEAGUE PRESIDENTS: Please contact your Assembly Members in the name of your League as soon as possible. Urge them to vote YES on SB 810 (Leno), the California Universal Health Care Act, on the Assembly floor. Please pass this request on to your personal contacts for individual action as well. The legislative session is scheduled to end on August 31, so immediate action is needed.

SB 810 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.

Passage of SB 810 this year will mark our third attempt to enact single payer health care in California. Even though a veto is expected, passing SB 810 out of the legislature this year still will be a significant step toward building continued grassroots momentum. Single payer legislation will be reintroduced and we will continue the fight until we have a governor who will sign a single payer bill into law.

Action Needed

The 17 Assembly Democrats who are not coauthors should be lobbied vigorously. They are listed here with their district numbers:

Arambula – AD31,  Buchanan -- AD15,  Caballero -- AD28,  Calderon -- AD58, Carter -- AD62,  Fuentes -- AD39,  Furutani -- AD55, Galgiani -- AD17,  Gatto -- AD43,  Hall -- AD52,  Hernandez -- AD57,  Huber -- AD10,  J.Perez -- AD46,  M.Perez -- AD80,   Portantino -- AD44,   Saldana -- AD76,             Torres -- AD61.

All other Assembly Democrats are coauthors of SB 810. Please send them a note of thanks for their votes and their ongoing support.

Republicans also should hear from their pro-single payer constituents. They need to hear how strongly their constituents favor SB 810.

Points to Make

  • Single payer health care is a fiscally sound, affordable health care system that will provide every Californian the right to choose his or her own physician and will control health care cost inflation.
  • Passage of federal health reform has greatly increased the importance of California’s advocacy for universal health care. Federal health reform is the tipping point for health reform, not the end goal. Single payer remains the gold standard for health care reform and is the only model that will achieve truly universal coverage. 
  • SB 810 will dramatically reduce premiums for businesses and families, will cover all medically necessary health care, will eliminate the risk of medical bankruptcy, and is proven to contain health care spending over the long term.
  • Importantly, SB 810 will save California businesses and state and local government millions of dollars in employee health care costs and is the only plan that responsibly funds retiree health care.

League 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.

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.