By Katharine Mieszkowski
The Bay Citizen (San Francisco), June 16, 2011
More than 100 protesters from community and labor groups rallied outside the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco Thursday morning to call for the end of private health insurance and for “Medicare for all,” while members of the America’s Health Insurance Plans met at their national convention inside.
“There is no reason to have a health insurance industry. It only serves them. It doesn’t serve the public,” said Arthur Persyko, a volunteer with Single Payer Now, a San Francisco-based health care reform advocacy group. “They are there to make their bottom line happy. They deny care to people who need it. They are a useless, destructive part of our health care system. It’s a crime, really.”
State Sen. Mark Leno is sponsoring legislation, SB 810, that would establish a universal health care system in California. A similar bill passed the legislature in 2006 and again in 2008, but was vetoed both times by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Advocates say with a Democrat now in the governor’s seat, this time could be different. But even if the bill does ultimately pass, it does not include funding for such a system.
“Separate legislation or a ballot measure would have to finance it,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a consumer advocacy group.
http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/pulse-of-the-bay/protests-rally-against-health-insurers/
Single-Payer Hopefuls Press Their Cause
By David Gorn
California Healthline, June 17, 2011
Only in San Francisco can a guy wearing a rainbow rasta wig be a voice of reason.
But there he was, among an estimated 400 boisterous protesters, trying to keep the sidewalk clear so pedestrians could pass through the colorful event. Event organizer Don Bechler also was busy keeping the gathering legal and peaceful.
“America deserves a health care system that’s not broken,” said Bechler, chair of California-based Single Payer Now. “We want to get rid of the insurance companies and their bureaucracy of denial. It’s crazy that doctors need to spend so much time dealing with insurance companies — that’s madness to deal with that kind of bureaucracy.”
Health care providers, labor groups and single-payer advocates turned out on the street outside of the annual convention of America’s Health Insurance Plans, a national trade group of health insurers.
Inside, political luminaries addressed the health care insurance industry — from former Senator Tom Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, to Republican presidential hopeful and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
Outside, protesters chanted, speakers orated, a pair of giant puppets battled each other (nominally an American citizen taking on insurance groups, but you really had to use your imagination) — and at one point the crowd was treated to the singing of a well-dressed group of ladies who called themselves the Raging Grannies of the Peninsula. They held signs reading “Survival of the Richest” and “Let Them Eat Advil.”
It was good theater, but critical care nurse Bobby Roberts came from San Pablo for more serious reasons.
“I see it all the time, insurers turning down health claims left and right. You see that they’re more worried about profits than patients,” Roberts said. “I have stories and stories, I could go on for days.”
National health care reform is a start, Roberts said, but he’s hoping to one day see the end of health insurance companies altogether. “It’s too much,” he said. “Too much profit, too much paperwork, too many people not getting the care they need. The insurance companies are fleecing us, that’s just so clear.”
Organizers estimated the crowd at about 400 people. San Francisco police reported no complaints.
Single-payer rally ‘welcomes’ insurance industry group
By Marilyn Bechtel
People’s World, June 17, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO – This city is known for its hospitality. So it’s no surprise that this week’s meeting of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the health insurance industry’s national trade association, was greeted by a “welcoming committee.”
But that committee, several hundred strong June 16 on the sidewalk in front of Moscone Center downtown, had a message that AHIP members probably didn’t want to hear.
“Everybody in, nobody out!” they chorused, demanding passage of SB 810, a state single payer-health care bill now before the California legislature, and “Medicare for All” across the nation.
“I’m here today because no one in America should have to worry about whether they can afford health care for themselves or their families,” said California Nurses Association Co-President DeAnn McEwen. “Healthy people are our country’s greatest national resource.”
United Educators of San Francisco President Dennis Kelly galvanized the crowd with his account of the Montana town that, in the wake of a terrible industrial accident, now has single-payer health care for all its residents.
When pollution from an asbestos mine sickened residents of Libby and surrounding areas, Kelly said, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., turned to Medicare. “They declared that the entire town was eligible for Medicare. Because it is single payer, it was the only way to get coverage for absolutely everyone. If Baucus can do that, that’s what we must do in California and the nation.”
(Interestingly, Baucus opposed including single payer in negotiations for last year’s health care reform bill.)
In a statement presented by aide Kim Alvarenga, State Assembly member Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, emphasized the importance of covering everyone, including immigrants, documented and undocumented. He said SB 810 “provides universal health care for every single resident of the state … Every person in this country, regardless of race, gender identity, age, disability or legal status has a human right to quality affordable health care.”
Several members of the Chinese Progressive Association’s Youth MOJO (Youth Movement of Justice Organizing) told how losing health coverage has affected them and their families, and described their work for universal health care, immigrant rights and other social justice issues.
Among the speakers and the crowd were members of many unions and community organizations, including the California Alliance for Retired Americans.
The California legislature has previously passed single-payer legislation, only to see it vetoed by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This year, State Senator Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, introduced SB 810, which has nine cosponsors in the Senate and 20 in the Assembly.
Last month, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat who campaigned on the issue, signed a bill taking the first step toward
establishing a statewide single-payer system. In coming years, the legislature will flesh out the program, which is to take effect in 2017.
http://peoplesworld.org/single-payer-rally-welcomes-insurance-industry-group/
‘Medicare for All,’ Activists Tell Insurance Convention
By Jonathan Nack
Indybay.org, June 17, 2011
OAKLAND, Calif. – Protesters greeted the national convention of America’s Health Insurance Plans, held in San Francisco, with their demands for a government run single-payer health care system modeled on Medicare that would cover everyone. The protest took place at Moscone Center in San Francisco, Thursday, June 16, 2011.
Groups participating in the protest included: Single Payer Now, the California Nurses Association, the California Alliance for Retired Americans, Healthcare For All, the S. F. Chinese Progressive Association, the Santa Clara County Single Payer Healthcare Coalition, the Gray Panthers, the Wellstone Democratic Club, and the Alameda County Green Party.
Several photos:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/06/17/18682115.php