[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Rick Jacobs
Chair
The Courage Campaign

This is personal.

I was quite surprised when I learned that Terry McAuliffe was going to appear at a major convention of health insurance corporations in San Francisco on June 19.

After all, how could the former Chair of the Democratic National Committee show up as a guest of health insurance executives -- much less accept any money for his appearance at the AHIP (America's Health Insurance Plans) convention? This appearance seems inappropriate at best, especially after Barack Obama and Howard Dean courageously directed the Democratic National Committee last week to reject contributions from lobbyists, including the health insurance industry.

And now it's personal. My sister, who suffers from severe and rapidly deteriorating hearing loss, just told me that she has been denied useful health care coverage. Again. Why? Because her hearing problems have been diagnosed as a "pre-existing condition," precluding her from receiving cochlear implants so she can hear again.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

In Schwarzenegger's presentation on the budget last Wednesday, when being grilled by the media on the specifics of his lottery proposal and other elements of his budget, he made a point to invoke his "don't forget health reform" pitch: he indicated it was a shame it didn't pass earlier in the year, and how he is still committed to doing health reform in his term:

"As you know, we have made severe cuts in health care. And when it comes to health care, what is even more painful is that we didn't get health care reform done, because that would have given Medi-Cal an additional $4 billion dollars. So we are going to go and continue staying on that subject of health care reform, and continue working with the stakeholders together to get this done."

Some, especially those in the Senate, used the budget crisis as an excuse to stall AB x1 1, the negotiated plan between the Governor and the Speaker, saying it wasn't the right time for such an ambitious effort in the middle of a budget crisis. Others, especially in the Administration, stated that the budget deficit only reinforced the urgency of health reform.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

There's a new May Day edition of the Health Wonk Review up at the Medical Humanities blog.

While they spotlight our post on McCain's health "plan," I want to recommend Jonathan Cohn at the New Republic for his analysis, as well as a discussion on Time.com's Curious Capitalist and Swampland, which has lots of links as well.

Basically, the nicest things I've heard about the McCain plan is it won't do any harm because it really isn't a fleshed out plan, and it doesn't have a chance in Congress. However, the majority think it's a radical shift--and not in a good way.

One debate started in Time.com's Swampland here, which quotes health policy expert Robert Blendon:

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Sheila Kuehl
Chair
California Senate Health Committee

According to the new statewide poll by the Field Institute, released Monday, the number of Californians who would prefer to receive their health care coverage “through the government” has risen by 9 percentage points since the last poll in 2006, and now stands at 31%, while those who prefer that individuals take responsibility for their own coverage dropped 6 percentage points to 20%, and those preferring employer sponsored coverage declined 4 percentage points to 38%,. “Government provided health coverage” was the only policy option showing an increase in support.

Since 2002, universal health care advocates have rallied around Senate Bill 840, the California Universal Health Care Act which I am proud to have introduced. These advocates have formed the OneCareNow coalition, made up of hundreds of supporting organizations around the state. The coalition has prioritized community education about universal health care and sponsored hundreds of public educational events throughout the year.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

The California Field Poll just released a 39 page survey that should provide ammunition for those who want to reform the state’s health care/health insurance system. As is usual, the devil is in the details—and there are lot here—for proponents of various programs to crow about and spin.

One thing comes through loud and clear: California voters are concerned about California’s failure to enact health care reform this year. They are very concerned about their own status—losing health care coverage, being unable to pay medical bills, employers cutting back the amount they pay for health insurance, and cancellations by insurance carriers because of health conditions. And, in response to a number of separate questions, they overwhelmingly support reforms, including requiring health insurance companies to offer coverage without regard to health conditions, extending health insurance to Californians who do not have it, and other reforms. They expect the current system to worsen in the next 5 years.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

There's a new Field Poll out today saying that 72 percent of Californians favored the Assembly-passed health care reform bill that failed to get to the Governor's desk earlier this year. The survey reflects "the public's own willingness to have this reform structured in a way that's palatable to a wide swath of people," Field's Mark DiCamillo told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Yet there are some single-payer advocates that still don't get it, as the article points out, with one legislator saying it wasn't "real reform."

Oh really?

Providing 800,000 kids with health care isn't "real reform"? Giving more than 3 million more Californians health care coverage isn't "real reform"? Having the first and most progressive health care law in place in the U.S. isn't "real reform"?

The fact is that both Democratic frontrunners have embraced proposals just like the one passed by the Assembly (Hillary Clinton's is extremely close; Barack Obama's has most of its features, including a requirement that health care be bought for kids).

By any measure, that's real reform.

There's more...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Hanh Kim Quach
Health Care Policy Coordinator
Health Access California

California likes to be first at everything. Unfortunately, according to a new series of state-by-state reports by Families USA, we're also first when it comes to deaths due to uninsurance. You can find this sinister stat at Dying for Coverage in California.

They show that:

• Every day, more than eight Californias die due to lack of coverage;

• In 2006, 3,100 uninsured Californians died;

• Between 2000 and 2006, 19,900 uninsured Californians died.

Other macabre findings include the fact that twice as many people died because they were uninsured than died from homicide. The study augments an early report by the Institute of Medicine, which found 18,000 Americans die annually because of uninsurance.

Why do people die for lack of insurance? Let's see -- in a generic nutshell: They're afraid to go to the doctor because it will cost money. They don't get the proper tests done to make sure they don't have cancer or chronic disease. They don't get the proper prescriptions filled for asthma or diabetes. They get sicker. They feel awful, but are too afraid to seek help because of the cost...then it's too late.