New California Single-Payer Bill Passes First Hurdle

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 17 Apr 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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In a room packed with nurses from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, California School Employees Association members, and community healthcare activists from across the state, California's latest bill to establish a universal single-payer health reform passed its first legislative test Wednesday afternoon.

SB 810 passed the Senate Health Committee on a party line vote. The bill next heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

In introducing the bill, author Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco noted that "more than 12 million Californians were uninsured at some point last year. Yet with all the money we spend today on healthcare, we could have a modern, universal healthcare system that provides quality care for everyone. SB 810 is the solution to our growing healthcare crisis."

California is one of more than half a dozen states with similar state legislation this year, in conjunction with national legislation in the House, HR 676, and the Senate, S 703. A major hearing on the Pennsylvania single-payer bill, HB 1660, is planned for this Friday, and follows adoption of a resolution by the Philadelphia City Council urging adoption of national and state single-payer legislation.

In testimony in Sacramento Wednesday, Malinda Markowitz, RN, CNA/NNOC co-president, noted that nurses witness the healthcare crisis every day and know that bills like SB 810 are the most effective solution to the calamity faced by so many families.

"Nurses know insurance companies don't provide any value in the delivery of medicine. Under SB 810, we would be free of their interference, denial of care, massive bureaucracy, and waste of care dollars," she said.

Others lining up in support of SB 810 Wednesday included the American Medical Students Association, One Care healthcare activists, California Association of Retired Americans, and a number of labor organizations.

SB 810 establishes a state-administered system to provide comprehensive coverage to all Californians, delivered by our current mostly private network of physicians, hospitals, doctors' offices, and other providers. Coverage would no longer be tied to job status or health condition or subject to ever-rising premiums, co-pays, and deductibles.

Source
California Nurses Association