Update By: Dorothy Cociu, RHU, REBC, GBA, RPA, OCAHU V.P. of Communications
President, Advanced Benefit Consulting & Insurance Services, Inc.
March-April, 2018
In case you were thinking we’re safe… everything’s going to be fine… you may want to think again. And perhaps open your eyes a bit wider to see what’s going on around us.
As we discussed with attendees in the December, 2017 meeting update, Single Payer is anything but dead. In fact, the grassroots efforts to support it are stronger than ever. We have two different fronts working on Single Payer in Sacramento; the SB 562 legislative push and the Ballot push. This is far from over!
Rob Semrow mentioned in his Legislative Update that you need to look at the website he mentioned, www.healthycaliforniaact.org, as you may not be aware of the activities that are happening right now!
Some of our board members are on the distribution lists and have received incredibly disturbing emails (disturbing, that is, to everyone in the insurance industry; the agents, the carriers, and even physicians), which are calls to arms from their grassroots organizers and volunteers.
They have chapters in nearly county, and say on their website that if they aren’t in your county, they’ll organize one.
Health Care for All is asking supporters to take action and fight the fight.
As you’ll recall, on February 17, 2017, just over a year ago, Senators Ricardo Lara and Toni Atkins introduced SB 562, The Healthy California Act. Advocacy for this bill is led by the Healthy California Campaigned, which is composed of the AllCare Alliance, the Campaign for a Healthy California (CHC), and Labor United for Universal Healthcare.
They are asking their supporters to take action by 1) Connecting with HCA (ie, become a member and donate funds, as well as volunteer with your local chapter or start your own; 2) Inviting a speaker and hosting a party with neighbors, family, friends and colleagues, or getting them a spot on the meeting agenda of your club or church groups; 3) Sending letters/emails and/or make phone calls; 4) Getting the word out by putting together your own personal list and forwarding information to your contacts when there is important news or they want you to act; 5) Seeking endorsements by asking businesses, city councils, school boards and prominent individuals in your community to endorse SB 562. They have created sample endorsement letters, a sample endorsement resolution, and a guide to the endorsement process with a web link; 6) Arranging a screening of a healthcare film. They are promoting “Now is the Time,” which is available to purchase on DVD or available fro the movie’s website. They will even let you borrow it for your chapter; 7) Staying up to date by connecting with them on Facebook and Twitter.
They also have a California Education Fund, which is a nonprofit 5019c)3 educational organization dedicated to expanding knowledge and understanding of health care in California. They are seriously soliciting donations, which are tax deductible. The entire focus is to educate the public about the advantages of universal healthcare financed by a single payer mechanism.
Seriously, you need to check it out. You need to go to their website (which we’ve been suggesting you do for months) and really see it, understand it, and hopefully, give you motivation to help us fight this.
If any of you don’t believe that this is a serious threat to us, you need to check this out for yourself.
If you don’t have time to go to their website right now, make a mental note to go later, but in the meantime, take a look at page 24, as I’ve copied and pasted an ACTUAL EMAIL that they recently sent out to gather support. You won’t believe it until you see it. So look at page 24 now! Then come back and finish this article!
What can we do to fight this? Go to their website and see what they are “selling” to the public at www.healthcareforall.org. If you’re a member of OCAHU/CAHU, read what we send out to you in the COIN, in emails, etc. Come to meetings and bring others you know in the industry that may not be members. If you’re not a member, you need to become members! Listen when Rob Semrow gives updates and when we do panel and other presentations here at OCAHU, as well as CAHU, on single payer.
Most importantly, talking to each other is preaching to the Choir. We know this would be bad for California, but other consumers don’t! Talk to your clients, talk to employees at open enrollment meetings, talk to your church groups, rotary clubs, professional associations and other groups.. They are! So we need to, now!
We need to have a single voice, use the same message. Rob Semrow, Juan Lopez, Ryan Dorigan and I have had now 3 meetings on this… and we’ll continue to. Rob can give you talking points, or you can find them on the CAHU website. CAHU has provided us with a ton of helpful material. Use it! If you need a speaker at a meeting, contact one of us! Health Care For All is doing it all over California! We need to also!
Most importantly, give to CAHU PAC! We need funds to fight this fight, or we’ll all be out of jobs, and California will be in a single payer mess! We all know how much this would cost, but these grassroots efforts from the opposition aren’t talking about cost. They are talking about how great it would be to have a universal, single payer healthcare system. They are not mentioning the fact that it would cost over $400 Billion dollars, more than double our current entire state budget!
If you don’t know how to do that, go to the CAHU or OCAU website, or contact the OCAHU PAC chair (or CAHU VP PAC). .
Let’s work together to fight this fight, and win! ##
Author’s Note: The referenced section above is included here: Single-Payer-Not-Dead-Supplement.pdf
Originally published in the March-April issue of The County of Orange Insurance News (The COIN), published by the Orange County Association of Health Underwriters and reprinted in multiple industry association publications.
