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June 29, 2005
URGENT Universal Health Care Update
Dear FCL Supporter,
SB 840, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act, passed the Senate and will be heard in the Assembly Public Safety Committee on Tuesday, July 5, at 1:30 PM. FCL is working with Health Care for All to lobby members of the Assembly Health Committee this week.
Letters of support are needed. Please see the instructions and the sample letter from Senator Kuehl's Office below.
Thank you,
Jim Lindburg
Legislative Advocate
http://www.fclca.org
E-mail: JimL@fclca.org
Phone: (916) 443-3734
Fax: (916) 448-6109
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From: Senator Kuehl
Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005
As you know, last month SB 840, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act, passed the Senate floor and the bill moved over for consideration in the Assembly. It has now been referred to the Assembly Health Committee, and will be heard on Tuesday, July 5th, 1:30 pm.
We need every SB 840 supporter to immediately send a letter to their Assemblymember stating their support. We have attached a sample letter of support, and you can find out who your state Assemblymember is by visiting http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
You may be aware that Assemblymember Gordon passed away on Sunday, June 25th. He is survived by his wife, Denise, and children Ryan, 20; Erika, 16; Amanda, 14; and Gordy, 12.
Assemblywoman Cohn is scheduled to be absent for medical reasons. For voting purposes Assemblymember De La Torre is likely (but not certain) to fill one of the empty voting seats on the committee. We are not sure who will fill the other.
Below you will find a list of the committee members, and the primary organizers for that district. We have included the contact information for legislators that are not yet co-authors. Please feel free to contact the primary organizer in your region if you would like to participate in legislative visits or other actions.
| Member |
Primary Organizer |
Aghazarian, Greg (R - Stockton)
State Capitol Room 4167
Phone: (916) 319-2026
Fax: (916) 319-2126 |
Carolyn Negrete, (916) 424-5316, HCA Sacramento Valley |
Berg, Patty (Co-author)
(D - Santa Rosa) |
|
Chan, Wilma, Chair (Co-author)
(D - Oakland)
State Capitol Room 6005
Phone: (916) 319-2016
Fax: (916) 319-2116
|
|
De La Torre, Hector (D - South Gate)
State Capitol Room 4162
Phone: (916) 319-2050 Fax: (916) 319-2150 |
Sheila Hoff, (310) 377-7668, HCA -Long Beach/South Bay, also Dawn Bronsema, Midway Dems President, CSEA |
Dymally, Mervyn M. (Co-author)
(D - Compton) |
Sheila Hoff, (310) 377-7668, HCA -Long Beach/South Bay
|
Frommer, Dario (D - Glendale)
State Capitol Room 319
Phone: (916) 319-2043 Fax: (916) 319-2143 |
Irma Strantz, (626) 798-8361, HCA Los Angeles, and Sheila Hoff, (310) 377-7668, HCA -Long Beach/South Bay |
Jones, Dave (Co-author)
(D Sacramento) |
Carolyn Negrete, (916) 424-5316, HCA Sacramento Valley |
Montañez, Cindy (Co-author)
(D - San Fernando) |
Sheila Hoff, (310) 377-7668, HCA -Long Beach/South Bay |
Nakanishi, Alan (R Lodi)
State Capitol Room 5175
Phone: (916) 319-2010 Fax: (916) 319-2110 |
Carolyn Negrete, (916) 424-5316, HCA Sacramento Valley |
Negrete McLeod, Gloria
(D - Montclair)
State Capitol, Room 5016
Phone: (916) 319-2061 Fax: (916) 319-2161 |
Sheila Hoff, (310) 377-7668, HCA -Long Beach/South Bay |
Richman, Keith (R - Granada Hills)
State Capitol Room 5128
Phone: (916) 319-2038 Fax: (916) 319-2138
|
Sheila Hoff, (310) 377-7668, HCA -Long Beach/South Bay |
Ridley-Thomas, Mark
(D - Los Angeles) |
Sheila Hoff, (310) 377-7668, HCA -Long Beach/South Bay |
Strickland, Audra
(R - Westlake Village), Room 4208
Phone: (916) 319-2037 Fax: (916) 319-2137 |
Peter Conn: (805) 682-5183 pconnt@earthlink.net, Santa Barbara HCA |
Individual Sample Letter of Support for SB 840
The California Health Insurance Reliability Act (CHIRA)
Send letters of support by fax or mail to your Assemblymember and cc Senator Kuehl's capitol office.
Identify your own Assemblymember online by visiting http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html
Please cc: Senator Sheila Kuehl c/o Sara Rogers
State Capitol, Room 5108
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 324-4823 FAX
(date), 2005
The Honorable ___________
State Capitol, Room ____
Sacramento, CA 95814
Re: Support for SB 840 (Kuehl)
Dear Assemblymember _______:
I am writing to express my support for SB 840, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act, which provides fiscally sound, affordable health insurance coverage to all Californians, provides every Californian the right to choose his or her own physician and controls health cost inflation. This model is estimated to save $8 billion, in the first year alone, in statewide healthcare spending, and will save money for families, businesses, individuals and local governments.
One in every five Californians went without insurance in 2003. Health insurance costs have skyrocketed at double digit rates; in response, employers are reducing coverage or dropping benefits altogether. It won t be long before one in every four Californians is uninsured. Also, half of all bankruptcies in the United States are now related to medical costs and ¾ of those bankrupted families had health insurance at the time they became ill or injured. The simple truth is that average Californians can no longer rely on their health insurance when they become ill or injured.
The United States spends twice as much per person as every other industrialized country on health care, yet we are the only industrialized nation where people go bankrupt because of medical costs. We have fewer physicians per capita than many other industrialized countries, and fewer hospital visits. For all that spending, our health care outcomes rank at the bottom of industrialized nations (37th in the world) according to the World Health Organization.
Californians want and deserve access to the type of high-quality, affordable health care that CHIRA provides. Most importantly, they want a health care system that they can rely on. CHIRA gives every Californian reliable health insurance along with freedom of choice. Please take a stand in support of real health reform.
I strongly support SB 840 (Kuehl) and respectfully urge you to do the same.
Sincerely,
(your name)
(any organizational affiliations you wish to include)
(your address)
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