[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Rose Ann DeMoro
Executive Director
California Nurses Association

With all the fireworks over health care in the Democratic primaries, John McCain has managed to stay under the radar on our national healthcare nightmare.

It's time to begin exposing him to some light. On health care, start by considering McCain's in the context of the tanking economy.

Household mortgage and consumer debt now add up to an unfathomable $12 to $13 trillion, and millions of American families are faced with foreclosure of their homes.
Even before this meltdown, one in six insured Americans were having "substantial problems" paying their medical bills, not to mention the 47 million with no health coverage and little prospect of getting it.

The constellation of foreclosures and staggering consumer debt with un-payable medical bills is a chilling prospect. The 1930s images of soup kitchens and Hoovervilles come to mind. We might have to start talking about McCainvilles with his open embrace of market based approaches that will offer little relief to those staring into the abyss.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Rose Ann DeMoro
Executive Director
California Nurses Association

Behind the escalating debate on the health care between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on individual mandate – she’s for it, he’s against it – is a critical policy battle that not only cuts across healthcare reform but also the neo-liberal privatization dreams, the home mortgage crisis, and the recession that is no longer looming, it’s here.

Sound farfetched? Take a closer look, starting with the millions of Americans staring at the loss of their homes due to the subprime loan debacle. It’s not a loan or a mortgage crisis for those families; it’s a debt crisis being forced upon them by the banks, hedge funds, and insurers who are desperate to shift their own mammoth debt onto someone else.

Banking, other financial institutions, insurance and real estate which make up the finance sector, now account for about half of U.S. corporate profits. And, they are in trouble with more than $2.5 trillion in outstanding consumer credit, $800 billion of that in credit card debt, and another $10.1 trillion in domestic mortgage debt.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Rose Ann DeMoro
Executive Director
California Nurses Association

With its vote today, the Senate Health Committee deserves the thanks for all Californians for its thorough, deliberative process and for taking a principled courageous stand despite the enormous pressure brought to bear by those who were pushing for hurried passage for a badly flawed healthcare bill

Following this vote, the nurses of California offer our pledge to work with legislators, community groups, and labor for genuine healthcare reform that avoids the serious shortcomings of AB x 1.

AB x 1 was rejected not because Californians and the legislature like the status quo or do not yearn for fixing our broken healthcare system. The bill collapsed because it was fundamentally flawed on its merits on access, quality, and cost.

Among our key concerns were the mandate forcing individuals to purchase insurance with no controls on costs or a minimum standard for benefits or quality, the failure to provide meaningful protection to families facing a huge spike in out-of-pocket costs, and the danger that the low employer mandate would encourage employers to drop current coverage.

by California Nurses Shum [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee said today that it will oppose the latest healthcare plan proposed by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, which would sentence patients to patients to forced insurance, threats to seize wages to pay the premiums of the very for-profit insurance companies who are speedily wrecking our health care system, and mandatory costs.

"As more details continue to emerge, it is apparent that this proposal is riddled with flaws that could exacerbate the healthcare crisis for countless numbers of California families," said CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro.

More details below, or visit the online home of the Nationanl Nurses Organizing Committee and California Nurses Association, and join the fight for guaranteed healthcare on the single-payer model.