The Great L.A. Healthcare Rally This Saturday - HUGE Rally For Single Payer Healthcare

August 11, 2007 – 9:17 pm | posted in Public Health

A coalition of registered nurses, physicians and consumer groups will rally this Saturday in Los Angeles in support of Sen. Sheila Kuehl’s ground-breaking bill, SB840, which proposes guaranteed healthcare on a single-payer model.

The L.A. event is the culmination of 365 local events held around the state this year, in support of single payer healthcare, one held every day. The “Healthcare for All/OneCareNow” statewide educational campaign for SB 840 was launched on August 12th, 2006 in Morro Bay after the bill, passed by a majority of the California Assembly and Senate last August, was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger in September, 2006.

The rally, which starts at 1:00 p.m., will begin with the arrival of a procession of “hearses,” which will have proceeded from Santa Monica to City Hall, representing the estimated 50 persons in the U.S. who die every day because they lack health coverage.

The event will include SB 840 author Sen. Sheila Kuehl, actress Lily Tomlin, California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee President, Deborah Burger, RN, and many others.

The Great L.A. Health Care Rally
Date: Saturday, August 11
Time: 1:00-3:00 P.M.
Place: South lawn of L.A. City Hall (First & Spring Streets)

“Working in a surgical intensive care unit, I take care of seriously ill people,” said Sue Cannon, a UC Irvine Medical Center RN and CNA member. “Everyday I see patients with diseases such as diabetes or asthma who can’t afford their medications or the equipment they need to keep it under control. These are life-long diseases that can be kept under control if they had proper healthcare coverage.”

“SB 840 is the only bill before the legislature that will truly provide health care for all and eliminate the for-profit health insurance industry from our health care system and guarantee universal coverage for all residents.”

SB 840 establishes a guaranteed healthcare system similar to “Medicare for All” with genuine universal coverage, comprehensive and uniform benefits, effective cost controls, and an end to insurance industry interference with delivery of care. All private and public insurance funding would be consolidated into one publicly run insurance plan that would cut overhead costs by up to 18%. According to independent Lewin Group study data, administrative savings will enable free choice of doctors and full coverage for all needed care for all California residents at no added total cost.

Many of the reforms proposed in the healthcare debate in Sacramento mandating the purchase of private insurance, as has been advocated by Governors Mitt Romney and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others, only increase the percentage of care dollars going to industry overhead, while subjecting patients to an industry built on the denial of care.

By contrast, a single payer reform will allow patients to choose from among private doctors and hospitals who are paid from a national, non-profit fund. As has been proven in developed nations around the world, this is the only way to guarantee healthcare for all.

Saturday’s rally is organized by the Healthcare for All/OneCareNow campaign, which is co-sponsored by the Consumer Federation of California and the CNA/NNOC. This rally will be used to reveal plans for “veto-proofing” the current SB 840 bill which was reintroduced this year by its author, State Senator Sheila Kuehl, and now has 43 co-authors.

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Representing 75,000 RNs from California to Maine, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee is the fastest-growing association of direct-care RNs in the nation. Learn more at http://www.calnurses.org

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