Lexi Marman needed a tooth removed and before she knew it, the dentist took out a pair of pliers and yanked the tooth out of her mouth–with no Novocain. He said it saved her money, but it didn’t save her from the pain. She wished she had single payer, California OneCare that day because it covers dental care.
From DailyKos with permission.
The supporters of SB 810, the most vetted and mature Single Payer legislation in America, marched and rallied at the Capitol in Sacramento yesterday.
The action in the front lines of the movement that WILL succeed in doing what DC politics could not do, pass legislation for the ONLY public option healthcare that pays for itself, were glorious.
Here is a YouTube with some highlights;
When Single Payer succeeds in California it will be adopted by other states, not unlike what happened province by province in Canada.
If you think Single Payer is ultimately the way to go, please Recommend this diary.
This is my initial reform.
These were University of California Irvine(UCI)students. Students from every medical school in California came in buses the night before. I was impressed by their enthusiastic support of SB 810 and their ability to explain the advantages of Single Payer and this pivotal legislation which will be re-introduced at the Senate floor next month. We then marched about a mile toward the Capitol building.
What do we want? Single Payer
When do we want it? NOW
Hey, hey, ho, ho.
Healthcare greed has got to go.
Insurance companies rich and rude.
We don’t like your attitude
All America should beware
Insurance companies just don’t care
Decent healthcare is our right
We are here and we will fight!
Once there we joined up at the Capitol steps with healthcare activists from many organizations supporting SB 810 that make up the core of a well thought out and managed campaign called California One Care. Some of the organizations present included the California Nurses Association, California Physicians Alliance, Healthcare for All California, theCalifornia School Employees Association, the California Retired Teachers Association
and many others.
It was a cold (OK by California standards) and cloudy day but spirits were high, everybody was passionate. Speaker after speaker gave hard hitting speeches. The whole event was incredibly well organized. This California healthcare movement is a well oiled grassroots machine.
SB 810 is now sponsored by Senator Mark Leno who was the first speaker. He said something that I think is the bottom line of the healthcare reform movement in California and everywhere. Something that when I said it in toe to toe discussions with teabaggers at townhall meetings and Christmas parties makes the foam at the mouth. Something that was echoed by the other speakers. Something that I think is the reason why I am involved in healthcare reform; healthcare is a basic human right, not a privilege of those who can afford it.
Senator Mark Leno is very eloquent and IMO he will be effective in Sacramento starting next month when SB 810 comes to the floor.
After the action at the Capitol steps was over we went inside where smaller groups of activists, mostly the well prepared members of the California Health Professionals Students Alliance
visited the offices of most of the Senators to discuss SB 810
with each one.
First they gathered in a large conference room to coordinate the visits and prepare for possible arguments;
.
I decided to tag along in a visit to Republican Senator Dave Cox
with a group of students. Obviously the Senator opposes SB 810 so I was very intrigued by the whole concept of medical students arguing with a powerful Republican Senator.
We were received by Kevin Bassett, his Chief of Staff, who invited us into the Senator’s office to discuss the pros and cons of SB 810.
The CHPSA members defended the bill by using tragic personal anecdotes of patients they knew who had been denied healthcare by insurance companies. Mr. Bassett awkwardly and repeatedly used the argument that many young people do not have healthcare because they feel “immortal” not because they cannot afford it. This concept of “no healthcare by choice” was hammered each time by a different student who eloquently brought up another advantage of Single Payer accompanied by yet another personal anecdote.
After about 30 minutes the Senator did show up.
He started his own argument against SB 810 by saying that Single Payer is “crazy” because it cannot be afforded. He said that Medi-Cal
was broke and so were the healthcare systems of all countries that had Single Payer.
Eventually the Senator gave his vision of what he said was the future of healthcare. But this will be in some of my next diaries.
Again, if you believe that Single Payer IS the way to go because it is the only self funding public option then support California One Care
or at least Recommend this diary. I will then re-double my efforts to keep you all posted of the healthcare reform movement in California, our last best hope for real healthcare reform.
Yesterday marked the beginning of the end of greedy health insurance companies in America, starting in California.Let’s do it!!
This past Sunday on ABC News This Week, respected, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks made a remarkable comment: “Well, I wouldn’t mind a single payer,” he said. “Frankly I prefer a single payer [health care system] to what we have now, because that would actually control costs.” Watch the video (approximately -10:20).
This is an amazing admission from someone who represents the conservative point of view. And it’s what we have been saying all along: Single payer is the only way to not only control the skyrocketing costs of health care, but also to deliver quality care to 100% of the population while saving money for families, businesses, and government.
A single payer system eliminates the wasted 30 cents of every premium dollar that goes to private insurance administrative paperwork, marketing, executive salaries, and profits. The savings that would accrue would provide more than enough money to cover everyone with comprehensive coverage that includes medical, dental, prescriptions, mental health, diagnostics, and much more while preserving the freedom to choose any doctor, hospital or clinic.
As the expert blogger for the Physicians for a National Health Program, Don McCanne, MD, says: “Single payer helps get people the care they need while controlling costs.” McCanne’s “Quote-of-the-Day” blogs are an important source of information about single payer.
Originally posted by Alberto Saavedra on DailyKos on Tue Dec 15, 2009 at 10:10:17 PM
Some healthcare legislation will pass in DC in the next few weeks. And Obama will sign it. Commemorative pens will be used. And pictures will be taken in the White House lawn. Obama will give a nicely worded speech. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will ham it up.
But this will not be the glorious event it could have been. The progressive base will not rejoice but the insurance companies will, people without health insurance will not celebrate but teabaggers will, healthcare activists will not high five each other but Republican politicians will.
This healthcare victory will be a Pyrrhic one (at best).
The only hope we will have is that a progressive state passes a good Single Payer Public legislation that is then adopted by other states.
The state with the best chance to do this is California with the CaliforniaOnecare.org campaign. I’ll tell you why I have become a very enthusiastic supporter of this well organized movement below.
Before I proceed let me establish one thing; I think Obama is a great President. Although he has not done much of what I hoped he do, he has done one thing that in my view makes all the difference in the world; Obama has regained the moral high ground for America. This alone is enough for me to be a loyal supporter of Obama.
But healthcare matters to me so I will keep on fighting until healthcare is available to all, with or without Obama’s support.
The California One Care campaign is where spotlight will move to next.
Why?
Its purpose is to get California Senate Bill 810 (SB 810) passed.
SB 810 is Single Payer full care for all.
It has the support of all the Democratic legislative leadership and most Democratic legislators
California One Care has a detailed roadmap that even takes into account a Schwarzenegger veto and leads to victory (not a Pyrrhic one) by 2012.
It is the tip of the iceberg of a strong coalition of volunteers and committed organizations.
Its upcoming 365 TV spot ad campaign starting with the one by Lill Tomlin will be effective. I have seen the first 32 and I was excited.
California OneCare is also backed by Heathcare for All which has been pushing for Single Payer legislation in California for 15 years!
In the coming weeks, I will highlight much more about California One Care and the looming healthcare battle that will be fought over the next years in California. Many other states (I hope) will also push for similar legislation but California is the ball game. Victory here is victory everywhere.
We expect the insurance companies to play hardball and we are preparing. But we will need all the help we can get. Everything from blogging, boots on the ground, donations, letters to the editors, phone banking, etc.
The action will start in February, when SB 810 is brought to the floor in Sacramento.
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