The California Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to vote on Thursday on AB 52, a bill which will give the California Insurance Commissioner, Dave Jones, the ability to regulate health insurance premium hikes. This is something that many other states have the power to do, but which California’s health insurance companies have fought tooth and nail to prevent. Finally there’s a chance they could lose this battle.

Thursday is a crucial vote — do or die. If the bill is not passed out of the Appropriations Committee it is dead.  If it does pass it will go to the Senate floor for a vote (it’s already passed the Assembly), which must happen by September 8th.

There are nine committee members, six Democrats and three Republicans.  None of the Republicans is expected to vote for the bill, therefore five of the six Democrats’ votes are needed.  

Currently we have no idea whether all the Democrats on the committee are in favor of the bill or not.  Here are their phone numbers — it’s time to call them and find out exactly where they stand and indicate your support, as a California citizen, of the bill.

Senator Christine Kehoe (Chair) — (916) 651-4039

Senator Elaine Alquist — (916) 651-4013

Senator Ted W. Lieu — (916) 651-4028

Senator Fran Pavley — (916) 651-4023

Senator Curren Price — (916) 651-4026

Senator Darrell Steinberg — (916) 651-4006

If you find out the position of any of these Senators on AB 52, please post a comment!

You can find out if any of these Senators is your Senator, and if not you can call your California State Senator as well and ask them to support AB 52. Just type in your zip code on this easy to use web page to find your Senator’s name and phone number.  

As I was writing this diary, I received email from Rick Jacobs, Chair of the Courage Campaign, which has been active in pushing AB 52 through the Legislature:

Are you tired of Kaiser, Blue Cross, Aetna and other insurance companies raising your rates without any recourse? Just last week, Kaiser announced that it would raise rates on Los Angeles teachers, costing the LA Unified School District $40 million a year, even though Kaiser is one of the most profitable health insurance companies in America.

We can stop this madness. This week the California Senate Appropriations Committee will decide whether AB 52 even makes it to the Senate floor for a full vote. Kaiser and friends have spent millions on legalized bribes to kill it.

You have the power to force our Senate to act for you — not Kaiser, not Blue Cross and not Anthem. Send a quick email to the Appropriations Committee telling them we are watching them and expect them to work for us, not for giant health insurance corporations.

You helped pass AB 52 out of the Assembly. This bill would simply allow the state to approve or deny the outrageous rate hikes Kaiser and friends propose. Of course, CEOs like Kaiser’s George Halvorson would rather keep making millions of dollars, but that’s not good for you or me. It’s just good for him and his rich executives who are unaccountable.

Tell the Senate Appropriations Committee to vote yes on AB 52 because they work for the people, not for Kaiser, Blue Cross or Aetna.

Let’s get the bill out of committee and then we can push like hell to win in the Senate.

You can participate in the Courage Campaign’s organized emailing to the Committee members by using their interface.

Kossacks like Seneca Doane and others have been encouraging Kossacks for months to help get this bill passed.  Now it’s all coming down to a couple of weeks.  Will you help?

Again, here are the people to call:

Senator Christine Kehoe (Chair) — (916) 651-4039

Senator Elaine Alquist — (916) 651-4013

Senator Ted W. Lieu — (916) 651-4028

Senator Fran Pavley — (916) 651-4023

Senator Curren Price — (916) 651-4026

Senator Darrell Steinberg — (916) 651-4006