Guest speakers at the Forum were Mimi Kennedy, Progressive Democrats of America National chairperson; Norman Solomon, author and syndicated columnist; Dan Smith, local public hospital consultant; Sara Rogers, from Sen. Kuehl’s office; Andrew McGuire, executive director of One Care Now; Mervis Reissig, PDA coordinator; and Stan Gold, health care activist.
PDA has been mobilizing support behind the Kuehl bill and also for HR 676, the national bill to create a universal single payer system which guarantees health care for all.
Both House Resolution 676 and State Senate Bill 840 are similar in their content and feasibility. They would provide health care for all Americans, with providers continuing as they are now in the private or community sector, but payment arranged by a single government entity similar to Medicare. Details can be found online at www.onecarenow.org.
Lake County was mentioned several times for having opened North Coast counties, cities and school organizations to the financial benefits the law will bring them when it passes. The forum discussed how just such an educational program is needed throughout the state.
PDA is establishing a Speakers Bureau and wants to encourage local organizations such as Lions Clubs and Veterans organizations to inform their communities about the savings everyone would see if SB 840 were in effect. An email between Kelly Cox, Lake County chief administrator, and Doug Willardson, Lake County Finance officer, dated 6/28/07 was quoted as saying, "Currently $3,209,936 is budgeted for health care ..." Following the formula proposed to fund the Universal Health Care Bill, this could be reduced to $1,546,111, a savings of more than half to the county.
Now other organizations are seeing the possibilities and are beginning to research their own health care costs: the Konocti Unified School District in Lake County, $500,000; Sonoma County Office of Education, $1.35 million; City of Petaluma, over $1.18 million; City of Rohnert Park, over $1.4 million.
Sen. Kuehl's universal, single payer health bill was first introduced in 2005 but earlier health care plans have been in the works since 1998. (SB 840 and essays concerning its development may be read at Sheila Kuehl's Site, http://dist23.casen.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7BE8682787-AE26-46B2-8252-E528F9D0145E%7D, or rather than type in that lengthy link, type Sheila Kuehl's name into Google and click directly on the SB 840 link.)
SB 840 passed both the Assembly and the State Senate in 2006 but was vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger. A Special Session of the Legislature was called by the governor to discuss the health care crisis, but he and the leaders of the Democratic Party in Sacramento could not reach agreement.
Since its re-introduction in 2007, SB 840 has again passed the State Senate but is now in committee, awaiting an Assembly vote. Advocates say they are trying to keep it from becoming a ballot initiative because of the huge amounts of money that the insurance companies would put up against it – and the majority of voters in California still do not understand its benefits.
The online group, www.onecarenow.org, is teaming up with PDA to relaunch their campaign. They have an action plan available on their website, www.onecarenow.org/index.html.
"We are only a few votes away from being able to override the governor's veto," Andrew McGuire pointed out. But the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies will not sit idly by.
"Insurance-industry profits have climbed from $20.8 billion in 2002 to $57.5 billion in 2006. During that same period, health care interests spent $2.2 billion on federal lobbying, more than did any other sector,” Norman Solomon told the forum. You can be sure they are not ignoring California's efforts.
Shirley Howland lives in Clearlake.
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