On Bike and On Foot, Californias Give Political Leaders a Deadline

“The clock is ticking, and we won’t accept the same old excuses for another year,” said Betsy Imholz, Special Projects Director, Consumers Union. “The annual battle over the budget is not an acceptable excuse to put off fixing our healthcare. We’re getting very close with the work the Legislature has already done, and we can’t allow politics as usual to derail that effort.”

From north to south, from the Coast to the Valley, the actions will be as diverse as the state itself. In Bakersfield, there will be a bike ride for health care; there will be precinct walking to talk face to face with voters in Los Angeles; Orange County residents will join in a town hall meeting to talk over health issues and actions, and IOH volunteers will fan out to talk with Californians in farmers’ markets and other public events in Stockton, Salinas, Fresno, San Bernardino, San Francisco, San Diego, and elsewhere throughout the state.

During this week of action, Californians will send a timely message on health care to their legislators and the Governor – a message attached to a clock to drive home the point that the time for action on affordable health care is now, this legislative session. It’s OUR Healthcare! members say that this year’s progress to advance healthcare reform has been remarkable, but that a critical issue – affordability -- has yet to be addressed adequately.

“If healthcare isn’t affordable, it isn’t really healthcare,” said Casey Young, Advocacy Manager, AARP California. “Premiums, tests, preventive care, treatments, and medications – all the costs of buying insurance and using insurance – must be affordable; otherwise individuals and families will be faced with the same bad choices they have today.”

It’s OUR Healthcare! is a coalition of seniors, health care consumers and labor; including Consumers Union, Health Access, Service Employers International Union, AARP, California Teachers Association, California Council of Churches, the California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and more than 90 other groups.

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