Healthcare Hits the "Road to Reform": Six Cities -- Four Days -- One Goal: Healthcare Reform Now

Also today, It’s OUR Healthcare (IOH) leaders delivered a letter to the Governor and legislative leaders, spelling out the coalition’s prescription for real health care reform. While recognizing the significant steps that have already been taken, IOH cautions elected officials that more work is needed in Sacramento, before the state gets health care that works.

“Bottom line? We still need to ensure that health care is affordable to Californians – affordable to buy and affordable to use,” explained Anthony Wright, Executive Director, Health Access. “And to make that work, we have get control of health care costs, which means public oversight of insurance companies, and using the power of the state to negotiate better deals on medicines that our doctors prescribe, but we can’t always afford.”

The IOH letter to elected officials identifies three key concerns: stronger guarantees to ensure affordability of health coverage, fair sharing of costs for coverage among employers, government and consumers, and control of costs in the overall healthcare system. The letter was delivered to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.

“At the same time we’re talking to elected officials in Sacramento,” said California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski, “we’re on the road talking to people throughout the state. This year’s health care reform legislation is being hammered out right now, and we want to expand that debate beyond the usual suspects. The deterioration of health care coverage in California affects all of us, and it’s important for everyone who uses the health care system, who needs health care – which is just about every one of us – to be involved in the debate.”

It’s OUR Healthcare! already has collected thousands of stories – stories of families with insurance who can’t afford to use it, because the deductibles are so high, or the treatments and medicines they need aren’t covered – stories of parents who can’t afford to insure their children, small businesses that can’t afford to insure their employees, families who could afford insurance but can’t find insurance companies to sell them coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Millions of Californians have no insurance at all and millions more have insurance on paper, that doesn’t work in practice. And it’s these voices that IOH is bringing into the debate.

The Road to Reform Tour continues Tuesday in Los Angeles, Wednesday in Bakersfield and Fresno, and San Francisco on Thursday morning before wrapping up in the state Capitol. Details about the tour, and more information about It’s OUR Healthcare are available online at www.ItsOurHealthcare.org.