You do. I know it! So riddle me this. How do you expect a single payer health care bill to get through the California Legislature if we can't get a bill through that will simply allow the California Insurance Commissioner to regulate health insurance premiums (AB 52) ?
Let's face it. If we can't get THAT -- what should be a marginally controversial law enabling regulatory power -- through the legislature, we might as well say arrivederci to any hope of being able to find a majority for a radical reinvention of health care in California and then America.
Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. -- Martin Luther King Jr.
We're not going to let that happen. Not at all. The fact is it's touch and go, and the critical moment is RIGHT NOW. The California Senate is about to vote on AB 52. The vote will happen sometime late this week or early next week. There are 40 California Senators --of which 15 are Republican, and none of them will vote for the bill. That leaves 25 Democratic Senators, and we need the vast majority for it to pass: 21 out of 25. We figure we have somewhere around thirteen votes we're pretty sure of, but as for the rest, who knows?
Here's what the bill does:
the bill... would prohibit the Department of Managed Health Care or the Department of Insurance from approving any rate or rate change that is found to be excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory.
Not exactly radical, right? A bit less dramatic than eliminating health insurance companies from California and providing everyone with a right to health care, don't you think? And still we have to work our butts off to get it passed.
Fortunately the bill has already been passed by the Assembly. If there are no amendments it will go directly to the Governor if and when it passes the Senate.
So we need to have our California Senators hear from us. It's the only way we can counteract the enormous pressure they are getting from insurance lobbyists -- who are probably thicker than a plague of locusts right now in Sacramento.
Tomorrow morning is the time to call. Mark your calendar, set your alarm. Send yourself a reminder email. (Hell, I'll send you a reminder email if you want me to...) When 9:00 AM roles around and Senate staffers start answering the phones, they need to hear your voice in support of passing AB 52 with no crippling amendments.
You can read more about AB 52 and where it stands in Seneca Doane's diary from yesterday.
You can figure out who your Senator is here, by zip code. If you know who your Senator is you can find their office telephone number below (Democrats in bold):
California's State Senators, Their District, Party, and Phone
Alquist, Elaine 13 (Dem) (916) 651-4013
Anderson, Joel 36 (Rep) (916) 651-4036
Berryhill, Tom 14 (Rep) (916) 651-4014
Blakeslee, Sam 15 (Rep) (916) 651-4015
Calderon, Ron 30 (Dem) (916) 651-4030
Cannella, Anthony 12 (Rep) (916) 651-4012
Corbett, Ellen 10 (Dem) (916) 651-4010
Correa, Lou 34 (Dem) (916) 651-4034
De León, Kevin 22 (Dem) (916) 651-4022
DeSaulnier, Mark 07 (Dem) (916) 651-4007 * Co-author
Dutton, Bob 31 (Rep) (916) 651-4031
Emmerson, Bill 37 (Rep) (916) 651-4037
Evans, Noreen 02 (Dem) (916) 651-4002
Fuller, Jean 18 (Rep) (916) 651-4018
Gaines, Ted 01 (Rep) (916) 783-8232
Hancock, Loni 09 (Dem) (916) 651-4009
Harman, Tom 35 (Rep) (916) 651-4035
Hernandez, Ed 24 (Dem) (916) 651-4024
Huff, Bob 29 (Rep) (916) 651-4029
Kehoe, Christine 39 (Dem) (916) 651-4039
La Malfa , Doug (Rep) (916) 435-0744
Leno, Mark 03 (Dem) (916) 651-4003 * Principal Co-author
Lieu, W . Ted (Dem) (916) 651-4028
Liu, Carol 21 (Dem) (916) 651-4021
Lowenthal, Alan 27 (Dem) (916) 651-4027
Negrete-McLeod, Gloria 32 (Dem) (916) 651-4032
Padilla, Alex 20 (Dem) (916) 651-4020
Pavley, Fran 23 (Dem) (916) 651-4023
Price, Curren D (Dem) (916) 651-4026
Rubio, Michael 16 (Dem) (916) 651-4016
Runner, Sharon 17 (Rep) (916) 651-4017
Simitian, S . Joseph 11 (Dem) (916) 651-4011
Steinberg, Darrell 06 (Dem) (916) 651-1529
Strickland, Tony 19 (Rep) (916) 651-4019
Vargas, Juan 40 (Dem) (916) 651-4040
Walters, Mimi 33 (Rep) (916) 651-4033
Wolk, Lois 05 (Dem) (916) 651-1511
Wright, Rod 25 (Dem) (916) 651-4025
Wyland, Mark 38 (Rep) (916) 651-4038
Yee, Leland 08 (Dem) (916) 651-4008
Let's get this bill passed. Then, with the wind at our back, we can go to work on the Legislature to win the World Series: passage of SB 810, a single payer health care system for all Californians.