Heath care is a right that should be available to all Americans, not a privilege enjoyed just by those who can afford to pay ever-increasing premiums.

I am proud to be one of the 219 Democrats who voted for President Obama’s landmark comprehensive health care reform, which, among many other things, prevents insurance companies from denying coverage to millions of Americans with a pre-existing condition. It was a moment over 70 years in the making and I am proud that the President and our strong progressive majority in Congress got the job done.

Our recent success on health care gives me hope that a burden has been lifted from our children and grandchildren. I understand the challenges involved in finding coverage for a loved one who has been denied coverage — as my son was.

Please watch this short video of me discussing the health care reform bill and share it with your friends and family.

There is more to do to reduce costs and make health care affordable for all Americans. I’m disappointed that my language to save seniors millions in drug costs by repealing the Bush era prohibition against direct negotiation with pharmaceutical firms under Medicare was stricken from the final bill.

I also support giving Americans safe access to prescription drugs produced in other countries where prices are substantially lower. I want to allow doctors to post prescriptions online where pharmacists would bid to fill them at the lowest price, and I want to increase the number of nurses and primary care physicians across the country.

Sincerely,

Jane  

This week we celebrate President Obama’s signing of landmark health care reform legislation into law. Thanks to this historic bill, 32 million Americans will gain access to health insurance, health care will become more affordable, and no American will ever again be denied coverage when they get sick or because of pre-existing conditions.

But before the ink was even dry on President Obama’s signature, the attorneys general of 13 states — led by Florida Republican AG Bill McCollum, trying to score political points in his campaign for governor — immediately filed a lawsuit to try to block the new law in the courts. One of my Republican opponents, Tom Harman, is even encouraging current California Attorney General Jerry Brown to join them.

This is the ultimate frivolous lawsuit, brought to you by the GOP — the party of “NO” — and we can’t let them stand in the way of progress.



Sign my petition to Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and these 12 other AGs today — and urge them to drop their lawsuit against the historic health care reform bill!

As California’s next Attorney General, I will always fight to put the people’s interests first, not the special interests or any narrow partisan political interest.

California stands to gain tremendously from health care reform. Of the 32 million Americans who will get health coverage under the bill, as many of 7 million of them will be Californians, and everyone in our state will gain more security and stability in their health insurance coverage.

That’s why I will do everything in my power as California Attorney General to defeat efforts to repeal or overturn this critical health care legislation.

And we can start, today, by urging these Republican attorneys general to drop their frivolous lawsuit against the new health care bill.

Sign my petition to Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and these 12 other AGs today — and urge them to drop their lawsuit against the historic health care reform bill!

Do you want the attorneys general from Florida, South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington, Idaho, Louisiana, and South Dakota telling Californians that they can’t have health care reform?

I don’t.

The people of California want and deserve the benefits of health care reform. Please join me in speaking out today, and urging these attorneys general to drop their frivolous lawsuit.

Thanks.

Lately, interviews concerning healthcare reform have been plastering the news with droning answers that seem to always slip into over-complicated political jargon. In an interview on Fox 5 San Diego, Francine Busby and Brian Bilbray weighed in on the effect of healthcare reform.  The two candidates running for the seat in California’s 50th district have competing views of what needs to be done to pass healthcare reform.  Francine Busby, addressed the problem head on, and put forth a solution with a fresh display of knowhow and vision.  Busby focused on what needs to be done to make healthcare reform relevant to families around the dining room table here in San Diego, rather than the compromising table in Washington.  Busby is in support of passing this healthcare reform bill to help the 108,000 uninsured people in her district obtain health insurance.  She is willing to do what it takes to make sure the issues relate to the American people and not the American bureaucracy.

Brian Bilbray’s comments were all about POLITICS.  When asked about the votes needed to pass the bill, Bilbray pinned the blame on the Democrats, their 40-vote majority and lack of bipartisan cooperation, but the moderator did not let him get very far.  He claimed that the Democrats are not including the Republicans enough on negotiations, and are strictly going after their own votes.  But in reality, when was the last time a President has put together a healthcare summit with both parties present for discussion?  Never.  President Obama’s actions have exceeded any prior attempt at a bipartisan agreement on a bill.  Then I still ask myself, why has there been no compromise?  The answer that Bilbray poses is: politics.

The moderator further expressed her disgust with the Republican’s political games when she said, “You guys are going to lose those votes anyways. You are going to lose at the polls, because people are sick of it Congressman. People are really fed up and tired of all the politics.”  This Fox Network moderator conveyed the distrust and disgust that the people of America truly have for this broken system of governance.  The American people want healthcare reform.  They want cheaper insurance premiums.  They want a choice! Republicans are playing election games instead of doing their job, which the American people have to remind them of.  Stop the political nonsense and pass a bill that will help Americans.

The Republicans, including Bilbray, are focused on the midterm elections in November rather than what is right for the country.  Brian Bilbray simply refused to answer the question about how he was going to help the 46 million uninsured Americans. For Bilbray, denying healthcare reform is a political victory for the GOP.  Bilbray tiptoed around the issues and reinforced the fact that Republicans are playing politics and using buzzwords in attempt to win elections.  The moderator showed more exasperation with Bilbray by saying, “This is frustrating.”  Then she promptly ended the interview.  I agree with her.  The California 50th Congressional District deserves better than a question dodger.  They deserve someone who will help healthcare reform pass and help them get what they need.  The Republican’s “No First,” mentality has lasted too long.  The only way things will change is if we fill our government with people that are dedicated to making things better for the American people. Francine Busby is one of these people.  Please Congressman Bilbray, no more politics in this healthcare bill: just results.

http://www.fox5sandiego.com/vi…

Healthcare is a basic human right. The current healthcare system in America is dysfunctional and expensive. The bill that will pass in DC, eventually, will at best point in the direction of the need to make further changes, but most probably it will be the last time healthcare is tackled at the national level for quite a while.

We know that a Single Payer system is by far the best because it pays for itself by cutting down administrative costs to about 3%. And we understand that by allowing a government run insurance company to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies the cost of medicines will be reduced dramatically. In California these two items account for about 50% of all costs.

Single Payer Senate Bill 810 has a chance of becoming a reality in the most populous State. It is being discussed in the California Assembly as we speak.

When this happens other states may follow. And then we will all have healthcare at reasonable costs while maintaining the same quality of a privately run healthcare provider system paid by health insurance managed by the government.

Most Americans support this once they understand how it works.

Below I explain how you can help make SB 810 a reality and prevent thousands of unnecessary deaths.

First some basic points about SB 810 a.k.a. California Health Insurance Reliability Act (CHIRA);

   SB 810 (Leno), the California Health Insurance Reliability Act, (CHIRA), would provide fiscally sound, affordable health insurance coverage to all Californians, provide every Californian the right to choose his or her own physician and control health cost inflation.

   Reliable Coverage: Eligibility is based on residency, instead of on employment or income. Under CHIRA, all residents are covered. No California resident will ever again lose his or her health insurance because of unaffordable insurance premiums, or because he or she changes or loses a job, or goes to or graduates from college or has a pre-existing medical condition.

   Affordable: The plan involves NO NEW SPENDING on health care. The system will be paid for by federal, state and county monies already being spent on health care and by affordable insurance premiums that replace all premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket payments and co-pays now paid by employers and consumers.

   Efficient: CHIRA eliminates waste by consolidating the functions of many insurance companies into one comprehensive insurance plan, saving the state and consumers billions of dollars each year. Currently it’s estimated that half of every dollar spent on health care is squandered on clinical and administrative waste, insurance company profits, and overpriced pharmaceuticals. CHIRA is based on a model that has been estimated to save California about $20 billion through reduced administrative costs in the first year alone.

   Under CHIRA, California will use its huge purchasing power to buy prescription drugs and durable medical equipment in bulk. CHIRA is the sole health reform that enables California to use its full purchasing power to negotiate the deepest savings. It has been estimated that this model of systemwide bulk purchasing could save California $5.2 billion in the first year .

   Most importantly, CHIRA will make our health care system more reliable and secure by stabilizing the growth in health spending; linking spending increases to state GDP and population growth, employment rates and other relevant demographic indicators. CHIRA will combine needed cost controls with medical standards that use the best available medical science, and place an emphasis on preventative and primary care to improve California’s overall health in a way that also saves billions of dollars.

   High Quality: Under CHIRA, consumers have total freedom to choose their personal primary care provider. Health care providers and facilities will receive fair reimbursement for all covered services they provide. CHIRA utilizes proven financial incentives that support the delivery of high quality care, including bonuses for providers working in rural or under-served areas. The plan invests in needed health care infrastructure such as electronic claims and reimbursement systems and statewide medical databases that improve health care quality .

   Benefits: Coverage includes all care prescribed by a patient’s health care provider that meets accepted standards of care and practice. Specifically, coverage includes hospital, medical, surgical, and mental health; dental and vision care; prescription drugs and medical equipment, such as hearing aids; emergency care including ambulance; skilled nursing care after hospitalization; substance abuse recovery programs; health education and translation services, including services for those with hearing and vision impairments; transportation needed to access covered services, diagnostic testing; and hospice care.

   CHIRA offers California a broad and clear vision for a remodeled health care system that will provide high quality I affordable and reliable health care for all residents.

SB 810 started 5 years ago as SB 840 sponsored by Senator Sheila Kuehl, and it was vetoed twice by Schwarzenegger. Now supported by Senator Mark Leno, it is the most vetted, polished and researched healthcare reform bill anywhere and California OneCare and its supporting organizations have are putting into effect a very elaborate three year plan to inform the public and support the passage. It does involve electing a Governor that supports the bill next November, but that is a whole other story.

The bill itself is not difficult to read. No need to be wonkish to understand it.

SB 810

It essentially establishes a government run health insurance company.  Good bye and good riddance to all current expensive and dysfunctional private insurance companies.

     140000.  There is hereby established in state government the

   California Healthcare System, which shall be administered by the

   California Healthcare Agency, an independent agency under the control

   of the Healthcare Commissioner.

     140000.6.  No health care service plan contract or health

   insurance policy, except for the California Healthcare System plan,

   may be sold in California for services provided by the system.

How you can help;

Vote for California OneCare at Change.org.  If it wins in the healthcare category it will get a lot of visibility.

If you are a healthcare and or a California blogger, please help get the word out.

You can also join California OneCare or at least join its newly activated Facebook page.

Together we can do it!

I’m at a beautiful retreat house on a hilltop in the mountains north of San Luis Obispo as thirty volunteers led by Courage Campaign’s brilliant field team learn the skills to be community organizers. The spirit and energy in the room outshine the magnificent California countryside.

Every four years, California exports labor and capital for presidential campaigns. I witnessed that firsthand as chair of Howard Dean’s presidential campaign here in California when, in 2003/4, we sent hundreds of people to Iowa, New Mexico and Arizona to fight in the early primaries. And we raised millions online from California to make Howard Dean the voice that forever changed the Democratic Party. But then what?

We did it again in 2008 with the Obama Campaign. California exported tens of millions of dollars (maybe hundreds of millions) for the Clinton and Obama campaigns. Thousands of Californians went to Nevada to turn that state blue, to Florida and Pennsylvania and even Montana. Some 60% (maybe more) of the telephone calls to voters were made from California so that volunteers in those other states could actually meet with the right voters.

But no one from Oakland went to Fresno. And no one from West LA went to San Bernardino. No phone calls were made to the Imperial Valley. No money was spent on building infrastructure or focusing progressive messages on the conservative parts of our state. And not one penny was spent bringing people together to figure out why our state is broken, much less how to fix it.

The folks in this room today are here to change that. These nearly three dozen volunteers applied for the position of Deputy Field Organizer. They are from all over the state. Born of the post-Prop. 8 wake up call, Cole from Humboldt, Erin from Glendale, Matthew from San Francisco, Sara Beth from San Diego and a couple of dozen more like them are here because they know that they are leaders who can change their own communities.

Sarah Callahan, the incredibly skilled and experienced Courage COO, is right now teaching the team how to create a stakeholder analysis, what to do with that analysis and how to organize around that understanding. Earlier in the day, everyone broke into teams to learn their own story of self and then how to teach the story of self for organizers.

Most people came to this energizing space because of marriage equality and LGBT rights, but all want to work to assure that we have universal health care, affordable education and good jobs. On my ride up here, I listened to NPR (of course). The news is not great. The wars in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq are sapping our nation’s resources. The financial system continues to reward the few at the top, while jobs remain far fewer than willing workers. Houses once at the heart of the California and American dreams stand empty because former owners can’t make ends meet.

In the meantime, the health insurance companies dump hundreds of millions of dollars of premium fees into ads designed to protect and enhance their profits by thwarting reform. Climate change, full equality for LGBT people, immigration and education reform are not even really on the agenda yet.

But there’s only room for optimism. The movement that put Obama into office is growing. It demands progress and it is organizing itself right here in Bradley, California and across our country. The leadership of the movement in many ways comes from the LGBT community. We’ll win marriage equality and full equality as we build a progressive state–and nation–for all of us.

Now that’s Courage.

(Cross-posted at Courage Campaign)

Gov. Schwarzenegger’s budget butchery cuts services from IHSS recipients.  After November 1, 2009, people with an overall functional index score below 2 will no longer qualify for IHSS.  People who receive a functional index ranking below 4 for any domestic service will no longer receive that particular service.

Functional index ranking is how the county determines the level of needs people have.  As part of the assessment for services, the county determines the person’s ability to complete certain tasks, such as housework, laundry, shopping and errands, meal preparation and cleanup, eating, bathing and grooming.  Also they assess the person’s control over respiration, memory, bowel, bladder, orientation and judgment.

Now, in addition to assessing need, the “functional ranking system” is being used to take away services from the people that need them.  Let’s take, for example, an individual who has a “3” ranking for sweeping floors, a “4” for changing bed linens, and a “5” for cleaning bathrooms.  Under the new law, the individual would no longer receive service for sweeping floors because the ranking for this service is “3” and therefore too low.  The individual would continue to receive service for changing bed linens and cleaning bathrooms.  

There is also a “functional index score” (as opposed to the functional ranking index just mentioned) which is now being used as a line drawn to sever services from those who need them.  After a social worker assesses a person’s needs, the county gives a “functional index rank from “1” to “6” for each of the tasks.  This ranking is then averaged out.  The result is called the “functional index score.”  Effective November 1, 2009, the new law eliminates IHSS services entirely for individuals with a functional index score below level 2.    

On October 1, 2009, Disability Rights California and other organizations filed a lawsuit to stop these cuts.  We are hopeful and hard at work to reverse this dark ideology as soon as possible.  

This narrow vision couldn’t come at a worse time.  At a time when the State should be preparing for growth nothing is being done to prepare for the exponential rate of growth in the populations of people who rely on these services to live from day to day.  Instead of alleviating the pressures that the future burdens us with, the Governor shoots holes in the bucket that he asks us to fill.

However, we are happy to say that persons who receive protective supervision or paramedical services will not have their IHSS services cut regardless of their function index rankings or score.

In President Obama’s speech, he threw a bone to the Right. Basically, he said that hew would be willing to follow up on some of W’s plans for experimental programs of limiting malpractice claims and adjusting insurance.  Since then (and before) he has said that he doesn’t think it will be a significant controller of costs.  And on that he’s right.

One of the principal myths surrounding medical malpractice is its effect on overall health care costs. Medical malpractice is actually a tiny percentage of health care costs, in part because medical malpractice claims are far less frequent than many people believe.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, malpractice costs amount to “less than 2 percent of overall health care spending. Thus, even a reduction of 25 percent to 30 percent in malpractice costs would lower health care costs by only about 0.4 percent to 0.5 percent, and the likely effect on health insurance premiums would be comparably small.”

I’ll go farther than the AAJ. Not only is it not medical malpractice law that is raising health care costs, it has actually far less than the CBO estimates.  You can see that costs are actually somewhat decreasing from the line chart up top (full PDF where I got these here), and the pie chart shows that medical malpractice premiums account for less than 1% of health care costs.

There are two reasons why Republicans love this stuff, neither of which have anything to do with the doctors “practicing their love“.  They are simply allies of convenience.  First, attorneys who represent victims of malpractice have traditionally been solid Democrats, and not just the voting kind, but also the giving great sums of money kind.  The Texas Democratic Party had become reliant on this money when Bush became governor by defeating Ann Richards. Trial Attorneys had been good friends of Richards, so taking on the trial attorneys in Texas made a great deal of sense for Bush. He was picking a fight with a group that had opposed him.

The other reason? Malpractice is bad for the bottom line of some big Republican donors. The American Medical Association has long aligned themselves with the Republicans, as have the corporations affected by tort law in general.  Medical malpractice reform has to be considered in the more general frame of tort reform

But as they say, as goes California, so goes the nation. And California led the nation in tort deform  Back in the 1970s, California enacted a bunch of legislation capping recoveries and generally limiting tort recoveries.  It was a defendant’s dream, and the big corporations who typically get sued a lot were right behind it pushing it along.

In the med-mal area, recoveries were limited to $250,000 of non-economic damages by the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA)  in 1975. Any damages that could not be proved up were thus capped, with no adjustment for inflation.  So, for example, a chid’s earning potential, as viewed by the law, is essentially zero, as they cannot be “proved.”  Even if the kid is singing in the womb, reading Shakespeare at age 2, and performing calculus at age 6, the damages for a lost child are too “speculative.” And thus any damages given to the kin of a child who was lost due to malpractice were non-economic and capped at $250,000.

That number hasn’t changed since 1975, and while it might have been possible for an attorney to make a decent living in 1975 at $250,000 per case, that is not the case today.  First there is inflation: $250,000 in 1975 is worth nearly a million today.  But even beyond inflation, trial costs are much higher today.  Expert witnesses now get astounding ($500-$1,000/hr) pay, and judges and juries now require more of this kind of testimony. Trials are very, very expensive.

And now, very few attorneys can afford to take these cases.  Even heartbreaking ones where families are left with nothing but a semblance of a shrine (Photo: Noah Berger / Chronicle):

Wayne Volkmuth learned what a “250 case” was while conducting research shortly after the loss of his 7-year-old son, Ryan, who died three years ago during a dental procedure at a Palo Alto clinic.

The “250” refers to $250,000, the most Volkmuth could recover in a medical malpractice claim over his disabled son’s death, a limit set 34 years ago by California’s landmark medical malpractice law. It’s also the reason his case was turned down by most of the dozen medical malpractice attorneys he and his wife consulted. (SF Chronicle 9/21/2009)

Insurance companies know how this works. They ssimply delay and delay, until any attorney who was willing to take the case figures out that the case is going to be a money loser.  And the result is this: the needless deaths of children and the elderly with no recourse whatsoever.

MICRA needs reform. At the very least, it needs to be adjusted for inflation.  But more than that, we need to restore the balance between the tort deform lobby and consumers.  Corporations and those with the biggest lobbying warchests win these fights, with stories like this as the end result.  Consumers are the ones who get screwed every time.  It is time to demand more from our legislators, both in Sacramento and DC.  Do not kowtow to those who simply waive cash. You represent the people, not the lobbyists. (See also ChangeCongress.org)