Gallegly is Against Healthcare Reform…here’s why

Here  is Gallegly’s 2010 campaign contributions:

Industry	Total	Indivs	PACs
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products	$9,000	$1,000	$8,000
Telephone Utilities	$4,000	$0	$4,000
Defense Electronics	$4,765	$1,765	$3,000
Commercial Banks	$3,000	$0	$3,000
Health Professionals	$5,665	$2,665	$3,000
Electronics Mfg & Services	$3,330	$830	$2,500
Real Estate	$8,562	$6,062	$2,500
Misc Issues	$2,000	$0	$2,000
Home Builders	$2,000	$0	$2,000
Computers/Internet	$2,265	$1,265	$1,000
TV/Movies/Music	$3,000	$2,000	$1,000
Lawyers/Law Firms	$10,999	$9,999	$1,000
Insurance	$2,000	$1,000	$1,000
Crop Production & Basic Processing	$4,650	$4,350	$300
Livestock	$5,514	$5,514	$0
Building Materials & Equipment	$4,600	$4,600	$0
Casinos/Gambling	$2,000	$2,000	$0
Retired	$16,711	$16,711	$0
Trucking	$2,065	$2,065	$0
Business Services	$2,665	$2,665	$0

Here are Gallegly’s campaign contributions for the 2008 cycle:

Pharmaceuticals/Health Products	$36,500	$17,000	$19,500
Telephone Utilities	$11,000	$0	$11,000
Real Estate	$48,244	$37,444	$10,800
Automotive	$18,800	$8,800	$10,000
Public Sector Unions	$9,000	$0	$9,000
Home Builders	$10,000	$2,000	$8,000
Defense Electronics	$10,000	$3,000	$7,000
TV/Movies/Music	$10,600	$4,600	$6,000
Crop Production & Basic Processing	$16,448	$10,648	$5,800
Health Professionals	$10,795	$7,648	$3,147
Securities & Investment	$9,800	$7,300	$2,500
Building Materials & Equipment	$16,250	$13,750	$2,500
Lawyers/Law Firms	$22,120	$19,870	$2,250
General Contractors	$9,050	$7,050	$2,000
Lobbyists	$9,150	$7,150	$2,000
Republican/Conservative	$10,410	$9,410	$1,000
Misc Finance	$9,900	$9,400	$500
Livestock	$14,200	$14,200	$0
Retired	$40,849	$40,849	$0
Casinos/Gambling	$10,600	$10,600	$0

A break down of the later demonstrates this:

Sector	Total	PACs	Indivs
Agribusiness	$46,898	$17,800	$29,098
Communications/Electronics	$29,489	$21,000	$8,489
Construction	$38,949	$12,500	$26,449
Defense	$15,250	$12,000	$3,250
Energy & Natural Resources	$12,750	$12,500	$250
Finance, Insurance & Real Estate	$89,444	$26,200	$63,244
Health	$48,995	$23,147	$25,848
Lawyers & Lobbyists	$31,270	$4,250	$27,020
Transportation	$24,800	$13,000	$11,800
Misc Business	$41,202	$12,564	$28,638
Labor	$12,000	$12,000	$0
Ideological/Single-Issue	$23,861	$11,401	$12,460
Other	$48,499	$0	$48,499

Insurance and Health contributions combined make up for his main campaign contributions. If you want to include Lobbyists, that includes another $31,000.

Add to this misery, Gallegly won’t hold town hall meetings and won’t debate campaign challengers.  Probably because he doesn’t care what his constituents have to say and doesn’t want to be challenged with the facts.

Data provided by Opensecrets.org

Go play with the yearly data there, and you’ll see he’s always been a favorite of the insurance/pharma industries.

Over the course of Gallegly’s Congressional career, here are his totals:

Sector	Total	PACs	Indivs
Agribusiness	$335,074	$120,211	$214,863
Communications/Electronics	$263,672	$192,112	$71,560
Construction	$308,391	$105,050	$203,341
Defense	$156,868	$135,557	$21,311
Energy & Natural Resources	$161,076	$131,018	$30,058
Finance, Insurance & Real Estate	$756,363	$319,949	$436,414
Health	$401,417	$205,322	$196,095
Lawyers & Lobbyists	$219,363	$39,525	$179,838
Transportation	$218,316	$135,120	$83,196
Misc Business	$352,147	$139,545	$212,602
Labor	$58,025	$57,525	$500
Ideological/Single-Issue	$192,638	$127,618	$65,020
Other	$284,506	$500	$284,006

hmmmmm

Immmigration Myths and Cable News

Here is an interesting article about immigration that looks at the myths promoted by mainstream media.  It is a study completed by Media Matters Action Network.  Great insight.  En Espanol

Here is the link of the summary .

Here is the downloadable PDF file.

Here is a very brief summary of the article, please use this link to read the full text:

1.) There is no evidence to indicate that undocumented immigrants are more likely to commit crimes than American citizens; indeed, the evidence strongly suggests that immigrants in general are less likely to commit crimes.² For instance, a 2005 study ³ conducted by researchers from Harvard University and the University of Michigan revealed both that immigrants committed fewer crimes than native-born citizens, and that a greater proportion of immigrants in a neighborhood was associated with lower rates of crime. Another study ⁴ analyzing census data found that among men aged 18-39 (who make up the bulk of those committing crimes), the incarceration rate was five times higher for the native-born than for the foreign-born. This held true within ethnic and national-origin groups, meaning, for instance, that native-born Latinos were more likely to be incarcerated than foreign-born Latinos. A recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California found that in that state, which contains more immigrants than any other, the foreign-born are incarcerated at a rate half as high as their presence in the population, and only one-tenth as high among men age 18-40, who make up the bulk of prisoners.⁵ Robert J. Sampson, chairman of the sociology department at Harvard University, said that data show that undocumented immigrants are in fact “disproportionately less likely to be involved in many acts of deviance, crime, drunk driving, any number of things that sort of imperil our well-being.”⁶

There have, of course, been individual crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, some of which are quite serious. But in order to justify a particular focus in news programs and the claims of a “crime wave” — not just a few reports, but the enormous number of stories and discussions we document below — crimes committed by undocumented immigrants would have to be disproportionate to their numbers. Immigration opponents might argue that any crime committed by an immigrant increases the total amount of crime in the country, but the risk of crime is increased only if the immigrants commit more crimes per person than the native-born, since immigration also increases the population and therefore diffuses the crime risk to any particular person.

Immigration opponents often note that a relatively high proportion of federal prisoners are foreign-born (more than a quarter are noncitizens, according to the Government Accountability Office⁷). But this one statistic gives a misleading impression of overall crime. For one, federal prisoners account for only a small proportion — less than 10 percent — of the total incarcerated population, since most prisoners are housed in state and local facilities.⁸ According to the latest Justice Department statistics available, noncitizen prisoners accounted for only 5.9 percent of the combined federal and state prisoner population.⁹ The most recent Census Bureau report on the foreign-born population in the U.S. found that 11.7 percent of the population is foreign-born — meaning that the proportion of foreign-born prisoners is much lower than the proportion of foreign-born people in the population.¹⁰

2. Some believe that undocumented immigrants benefit from federal programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, SCHIP, and welfare. In fact, undocumented immigrants are ineligible to receive these benefits; anyone seeking to obtain them must provide proof of legal status.²⁵ Since the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, even documented immigrants are ineligible for most forms of public assistance for the first five years they reside in the United States or until they attain citizenship.²⁶ While there are some social services undocumented immigrants do use — public education for children, for instance — contrary to the rhetoric one hears on cable news, they also support government spending through the taxes they pay.

Undocumented immigrants pay all kinds of taxes: they pay sales taxes whenever they purchase goods and services, they pay property taxes in the form of rent, and they pay payroll and income taxes. Many undocumented immigrants use false Social Security numbers to obtain employment; when they do so, these workers then pay payroll taxes (for Social Security and Medicare), and often federal and state income taxes as well, through paycheck withholding. As the New York Times reported in 2005²⁷, the Social Security Administration estimates that three-quarters of undocumented immigrants pay payroll taxes, adding as much as $7 billion in Social Security taxes a year to federal coffers, and another $1.5 billion in Medicare taxes.²⁸ Under current law, none of these funds will ever be paid back to undocumented immigrants in the form of Social Security and Medicare benefits, as they are not eligible.

This does not mean, however, that in the short term some states and localities will not pay more for services to undocumented immigrants than they collect in taxes, even if when all levels of government are considered, immigrants more than pay for themselves. According to a December 2007 report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, “Over the past two decades, most efforts to estimate the fiscal impact of immigration in the United States have concluded that, in aggregate and over the long term, tax revenues of all types generated by immigrants — both legal and unauthorized — exceed the cost of the services they use. Generally, such estimates include revenues and spending at the federal, state, and local levels. However, many estimates also show that the cost of providing public services to unauthorized immigrants at the state and local levels exceeds what that population pays in state and local taxes.”²⁹

I’ve included this article as it appears worth consideration.  Our local House Representative for the 24th Congressional district, Elton Gallegly, has spent an enormous amount of time on this issue.  I personally feel voters need a broader perspective as to the important issues worthy of our efforts and consideration.

Mary Pallant gains State Senator Sheila Kuehl’s endorsement! (CA 24)

Mary Pallant’s campaign got a big new boost today: the endorsement of progressive CA State Senator Sheila Kuehl.

State Senator Kuehl has progressive credentials most of us can only dream of. She has been an incredible advocate for issues across the progressive spectrum from universal healthcare to the environment to civil rights. Her signature issue of late has been the passage of SB 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act. Sheila’s bio speaks for itself, of course:

Sheila James Kuehl was elected to the State Senate in 2000 and again in 2004 after serving for six years in the State Assembly. During the 1997-98 legislative session, she was the first woman in California history to be named Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly. A former pioneering civil rights attorney and law professor, Sen. Kuehl represents the 23rd Senate District in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. She is the chair of the Senate Health Committee and sits on the Agriculture, Appropriations, Environmental Quality, Joint Rules, Judiciary, Labor and Employment, and Natural Resources and Water Committees. Ms. Kuehl is also chair of the Select Committee on School Safety and Chair of the Select Committee on the Health Effects of Radioactive and Chemical Contamination. Senator Kuehl served as chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee from 2000-2006.In her thirteen years in the State Legislature, Sen. Kuehl has authored 171 bills that have been signed into law, including legislation to establish paid family leave, establish the rights contained in Roe vs. Wade in California statute, overhaul California’s child support services system; establish nurse to patient ratios in every hospital; require that housing developments of more than 500 units have identified sources of water; further protect domestic violence victims and their children; prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender and disability in the workplace and sexual orientation in education; increase the rights of crime victims; safeguard the environment and drinking water; many, many others. Since 2003, she has led the fight in the legislature to achieve true universal health care in California, and, in 2006, brought SB 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act, to the Governor’s desk, the first time in U.S. history a single-payer healthcare bill had gone so far. Undaunted by its veto, Senator Kuehl continues to work to bring universal, affordable, quality health care to all Californians.

The Mary Pallant campaign is obviously honored to have State Senator Kuehl’s endorsement. As the true progressive in the race to unseat Elton Gallegly in CA-24, the endorsement is a perfect fit for us in our quest to give this district the sort of progressive representation its people deserve.

State Senator Kuehl is another in a long line of Democrats to support Mary’s campaign as we head into the decisive June 3rd primary. See list of Pallant endorsements

Get out to protest John McCain

This has been posted on AfterDowningStreet.org

Click on the link to find where John McCain will be appearing and go hold out some signs telling him we won’t take the Bush Administration’s or his nonsense any longer.  No more war, occupation, torture, not another dime… none of it.

Could Gallegly’s 24th District Have Been Better Served?

Found an interesting website – NationalPriorites.org – where you can play with some numbers.

For instance, when comparing the tax cuts to the richest 10% for the year 2009, to the amount of money needed to hire music and art teachers for our students in public school, the figure is astounding:

IF instead of those tax cuts to the highest tier, we hired music and art teachers for the entire district (Ventura county and inland Santa Barbara county), we could hire 4989 teachers.

Another one, if instead of all the money spent in Iraq to date, we invested in renewable electricity for homes,  just in our district, we could supply  2,819,896 Homes with Renewable Electricity.

Consider that same money spent in Iraq to date, and know that instead we could have provided 591,609 Children with Health Care, 237,850 Scholarships for University Students, 4,737 Affordable Housing Units, or 19,989 Port Container Inspectors.

We have a primary coming up on June 3rd.  Consider carefully and vote wisely.  We can’t continue to waste our future.  Vote Progressive Democrat Mary Pallant.

CA Universal Health Care SB840 – Senator Kuehl’s efforts

Steve Wiegand: California “creeping” along on universal health care

By Steve Wiegand – swiegand@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, April 5, 2008

Historian John D’Emilio has written that social movements can be categorized as either “leaping” or “creeping” in terms of their pace.

Over at the Hart Senior Center on 27th Street today, the apostles of Senate Bill 840 are going to be creeping. More on that in a moment.

For those who have forgotten details from the Capitol’s recent health insurance wars, SB 840 is the “universal” approach, authored by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica.

Put simplistically enough that even a newspaper columnist can understand it, “universal” health insurance would be like Medicare. Everyone would be covered. Everyone would pay into a state-run fund.

Californians could still pick and choose their doctors and health plans, who would be reimbursed by the state-run fund. In essence, the state would become California‘s health insurance company.

SB 840 is the only game in town when it comes to health insurance reform. In January, the Kuehl-chaired Senate Health Committee rejected an ambitious effort by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, to overhaul a system that almost everyone agrees stinks.

That leaves Kuehl’s bill, which is only the latest iteration of the universal approach. Two years ago, she pushed a similar plan to Schwarzenegger’s desk. But the guv vetoed it, saying he couldn’t support “socialized medicine” that would impose a new payroll tax.

Kuehl, who is in her last year as a legislator because of term limits, expects the same result this year – assuming she can get SB 840 through the Assembly and past Núñez, who may seek revenge for the death of his own bill before her committee.

“I talked to the governor after his bill was defeated,” she told me this week, “but he is just adamant … and I haven’t been able to get beyond that with him.”

Still, Kuehl is not discouraged by the prospect of another veto, or by taking the “creeping” approach.

“My job is make certain we kick the can down the street every year,” she said. “I want more and more people to understand why this is the best game in town for them.”

Which brings us back to the Hart Senior Center. Between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. today, an expected group of about 40 people will gather to learn the best arguments to use in making the case for universal health care.

They’ll hear a pep talk from Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and about the nuances of SB 840 from Sara Rogers of Kuehl’s staff.

The idea is to build consensus for universal health care by convincing Californians that instead of the current system, it would be better to have insurance that stays affordable, follows you from job to job, covers you until you’re 65 if you’d like to retire early and isn’t lost to you because of a pre-existing condition.

Eventually, Kuehl said, the state will have a more sympathetic governor, or poll numbers will show it’s time to take the issue to voters directly. (Voters crushed the idea in 1994 by a 3-1 ratio, but more recent polls show it’s close to a 50-50 proposition.)

The training seminar is sponsored by the Sacramento Valley Chapter of Health Care for All-California, a grass-roots group that has been pushing for universal health coverage since the mid-1990s.

“It’s a matter of holding informed conversations with a lot of people,” said Carolyn Negrete, a South Land Park resident who is coordinating the event. “This is simply to train people how to do that.”

As for Kuehl, a Harvard-educated attorney, she says she hopes to stay active in the fight but has no plans to set up her own grass-roots group, mainly because she can’t afford it.

“I have to work,” she said, pointing out that her 14-year legislative career doesn’t end with a pension.

Or health care benefits.

10 Things to Know About John McCain

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don’t):
1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has “evolved,” yet he’s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.¹

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain “will make Cheney look like Gandhi.”²

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.³
4. McCain opposes a woman’s right to choose. He said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”⁴

5. The Children’s Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children’s health care bill last year, then defended Bush’s veto of the bill.⁵

6. He’s one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a “second job” and skip their vacations.⁶

7. Many of McCain’s fellow Republican senators say he’s too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He’s erratic. He’s hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”⁷

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.⁸

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his “spiritual guide,” Rod Parsley, believes America’s founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a “false religion.” McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church “the Antichrist” and a “false cult.”⁹

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.¹⁰

Sources:
1. “The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day,” ABC News, April 3, 2008
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html

“McCain Facts,” ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008
http://colorofchange.org/mccain_facts/

2. “McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq,” Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aF28rSCtk0ZM&refer=us

“Buchanan: John McCain ‘Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'” ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/

3. “McCain Sides With Bush On Torture Again, Supports Veto Of Anti-Waterboarding Bill,” ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/20/mccain-torture-veto/

4. “McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned,” MSNBC, February 18, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/

5. “2007 Children’s Defense Fund Action Council^® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard,” February 2008
http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_scorecard2007

“McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion,” CNN, October 3, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/mccain.interview/

6. “Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady,” Associated Press, April 3, 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-S1sWHm0tchtdMP5LcLywg5ZtMgD8VQ86M80

“McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End `Systemic Risk,'” Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHMiDVYaXZFM&refer=home

7. “Will McCain’s Temper Be a Liability?,” Associated Press, February 16, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4301022

“Famed McCain temper is tamed,” Boston Globe, January 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/

8. “Black Claims McCain’s Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: ‘I Don’t Know What The Criticism Is,'” ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/mccain-black-lobbyist/

“McCain’s Lobbyist Friends Rally ‘Round Their Man,” ABC News, January 29, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4210251

9. “McCain’s Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam,” Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html

“Will McCain Specifically ‘Repudiate’ Hagee’s Anti-Gay Comments?,” ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/mccain-hagee-anti-gay/

“McCain ‘Very Honored’ By Support Of Pastor Preaching ‘End-Time Confrontation With Iran,'” ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/28/hagee-mccain-endorsement/

10. “John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record,” Sierra Club, February 28, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/77913/

Audra Strickland Speaks Out About Health Care Insurance

Got a curious broadcast letter from Audra Strickland’s office. Finally getting around to going through the other mail and opened it.  Many Ventura county voters got these “Health Care” letters from Strickland.

After reading it many times,  it seemed to have no point other than to say Health Savings Accounts were all the rage, giving one “control” of their health care policies, a tax free account would motivate those without health insurance to purchase it, and would aid in driving down costs to the public at large – – – – and we can’t have it because the DEMOCRATS are blocking it!

Seriously, Strickland states “Unfortunately for Californians, the Democrat majority is blocking those bills” (Health Savings Accounts).

Hurray for the Democrats!

Health savings accounts pay for insurance policies.  Health insurance policies are unbelievably expensive .  When a family is not part of a group at work, these costs can eat up to $1000 per month.

Of course that is fine for a wealthy family, however a working to middle class family certainly can’t afford that. Well, unless that’s all they saved for, their health care and not their retirement. That is not to mention that the premium only pays for the honor of the policy. In addition to the monthly premiums, there are deductibles and copayments if you even think about using the insurance. Remember, insurance companies aren’t in the business of paying money. This can’t be called true health care, this is more like hemorrhaging.

Moreover, families with a sick family member may find it nearly impossible to obtain any coverage at all.

There must be some reason that most of the developed nations of the world are providing health care for their citizens. It might be viewed as the right thing to do.

But really aside from the Strickland letter blaming the Democrats for lack of a plan,  there is little mention of better options.  Such as state Senator Kuehl’s SB 840.  One would wonder why our local elected official does not mention all of the alternatives.  Certainly there are alternatives that can help all families, and certainly Democrats aren’t stopping folks from moving forward with at least Senator Kuehl’s plan.

In another letter, this time from Senator Kuehl, it appears that SB 840, the bill that would provide Californians with Universal Single Payer Health Care, is alive and well and gaining support with grass roots groups.  Currently it is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

On Sunday, January 27th and Monday, January 28th, the American Medical Students’ Association held their hugely successful third annual rally and lobby day in Sacramento, which included a day long training that drew nearly 400 med students from all over the state. The fact that so many overworked medical students spent an entire weekend, even taking a rare day off from school, to advocate for single payer health care shows an unparalleled level of dedication and passion. AMSA students give every single payer supporter hope and inspiration as they push for passage of the bill.

Single payer advocates are also busy preparing for a historical strategy summit taking place in Los Angles later this month that will bring together representatives from the broad coalition of organizations dedicated to bringing single payer to California. The summit demonstrates the unprecedented development of the organized and operational single payer movement necessary to bring universal health care to California. It’s the kind of grassroots movement that has been largely absent in the history of health reform, and it’s just one example of the changing landscape of health care politics.

Please see more about this important proposal to end the health care crisis for all Californians here.

Michael Moore explains why he can’t vote for Hillary Clinton

 Michael Moore discusses his concern for Clinton’s ongoing voting for the war.  He also discusses why the health care plans of both Clinton and Obama won’t work.

Medical Students Rally for SB 840 Health Care Bill by Senator Kuehl

Medical students and doctors gather to support Senator Kuehl’s SB 840 plan to provide every Californian with healthcare. There are several health care bills out right now, but this is the one that makes the most sense.

Call Your California State Senator Monday Morning – Healthcare Bill Vote Monday PM

Time Sensative Action Alert
Please Call Your Senator Today!

Urge a ‘NO’ Vote on ABX1 – The Flawed Healthcare Bill

You have a chance to make a big difference on healthcare in California. The Senate Health Committee will vote Monday on ABX1, the deeply flawed healthcare bill by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. This is a very bad bill for patients and nurses because it forces people to purchase insurance that has no cost controls and that doesn’t guarantee adequate benefits. It’s a bill that benefits insurance companies over everybody else. The early afternoon vote on Monday will be the opportunity to stop this bill from going to the Senate floor.

What You Can Do

Please call the offices of the following State Senators:

• Sen. Alquist 408-286-8318
• Sen. Cedillo 213-612-9566
• Sen. Abel Maldonado 805-549-3784
• Sen. Negrete McLoud 909-984-7741
• Sen. Ridley-Thomas 310-641-4391
• Sen. Steinberg 916-651-1529
• Click here to quickly find your Senator by zip code look-up

Just give your name, that you are an RN (if you are) and your request that they not vote for ABX1. You can leave a message if the office isn’t open.

Thank you for your time and commitment to improving healthcare for California.

Patients Testify at Senate Hearing Against ABX1
Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008

Monday’s vote follows a hearing in Sacramento Wednesday at which nurses, patients, labor organizations, and community groups testified against ABX1. Among those testifying were the mother, father, and brother of Nataline Sarkisyan, the 17-year-old who was denied a liver transplant by her insurer Cigna, and CNA representatives who noted that ABX1 does nothing to end the callous denials of care symbolized by the tragic story of Nataline.

“Insurance companies should not decide who will live and who will die,” said Hilda Sarkisyan. “We had insurance. This can happen to anyone.” She also expressed thanks to CNA and the nurses of California for supporting her family.

Offering a challenge to the legislature, Nataline’s father Gregor Sariksyan added, “I want to have Arnold Schwarzenegger’s level of coverage and care.”

“ABX1 would not help people like me,” said Janet Stephens, RN who described her battles with an incurable disease called interstitial cystitis. What started out as decent health insurance coverage has declined to the point where I am grossly underinsured. 

“Each year, my insurance has raised its rates continually, while decreasing benefits and increasing co-pays enduring premium increases at each benchmark age, – 45, 50, 55?.  Now, I pay $589 per month for my coverage. I’ve used my credit cards, home equity line of credit, and sold household items in an attempt to cover my healthcare costs,” Stephens said 

“I still have a $3,800.00 balance at my pharmacy, even though I have made substantial payments every month,” said Stephens.  I’ve been forced to ration pills, split pills, skip doses and beg samples from my Doctors.  ABX1  will do nothing to remedy the staggering healthcare costs of Californians like me.” 

Cheryl Scott, a Sacramento RN, told the story of her husband Bob after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. “My husband had double health insurance coverage from two different insurance companies, one from his retirement plan and the other from my employer.”

“Both insurance companies denied my husband the opportunity of receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy that they had offered and treated his first wife who was diagnosed with the same type of brain tumor just 2 years earlier.”

“My husband died within 6 months after being denied medical treatment from both health care insurances provided by our employers. The common medical treatments denied my husband were standard of practice for our local medical community and throughout northern California.”  

“Nothing in ABX1 stops HMO’s from denying care for those that have employer paid-for insurance like my husband and I had from both of our employers.  ABX1 continues to encourage health plans and HMO’s such as those caring for my late husband the ability to force rationing decisions on families.”

“Under ABX1 the insurance companies will have even more power and patients and families will have less and less,” Scott testified.

Please call your Senator today to add your voice to these and so many other “Real People Denied Real Healthcare.”  Tell them to vote “NO” on ABX1.

Michigan Primary January 15, 2008 – Vote!

This is a great commercial for Dennis Kucinich In Michigan: