Thursday, September 18, 2008
I am disappointed to find no reference in The Independent over the last couple of weeks to the recent passage in the California State Legislature of Senate Bill 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act. This historic and well thought-out bill gives Governor Schwarzenegger the opportunity to sign into law a significant and positive change in the way health insurance is offered in our state.
Currently, approximately 6.5 million of us have no access to quality, affordable health care because corporate health insurance is too expensive. Millions more can afford only inadequate coverage that puts them at great financial risk.
Senate Bill 840 will create a single payer health insurance system that allows us to choose our own doctors and puts us all into a single insurance pool. Its efficiency and economy of scale will save $8 billion in the first year of operation. Selective coverage is eliminated, and quality controls are built into the system.
Doctors gain by having one straightforward system to work with, that fairly and fully compensates them for their services. The insurance companies will lose a profit center that infuriates both doctors and patients with its complexity and unfairness.
The governor is unlikely to sign the bill without support or pressure from the public. We cannot apply that pressure unless we know it is needed, and this is where The Independent should come in. I urge you to devote significant space and time to this critical issue, even at the loss of some of your (at times overly) extensive cultural reporting. — Jeffrey King