(Thanks for the update. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
The California State Plan on Aging estimates the population of seniors, over 85 years of age, will increase 172% over the next 20 years. The most recent draft of the plan finds that "California's older adult population will increase by 90 percent as members of the Baby Boomer cohort reach 60." The Plan outlines the major areas of concern for seniors in the next four years.
EDIT By BRIAN: See the flip for more on the Plan on Aging.
Assembly Member Feuer has authored a sensible bill with the intention of protecting consumers and it is having a tumultuous time getting passed. AB 542 is an attempt at protecting consumers and patients from being billed for what are called "never events."
A never event is a medical error that, frankly should never happen. The term never event was first introduced by Ken Kizer MD, former CEO of the National Quality Forum (NQF), in reference to particularly shocking medical errors. These adverse events are preventable, they are clearly identifiable and measurable, and they are serious - they result in death or significant disability.
Currently, operations done on the wrong body part account for most of the never events. Other errors include dispensing the wrong medication, giving a transfusion of the wrong blood type, and leaving objects in patients. Unfortunately, patients can still be held responsible for any charge resulting from the commission of the medical error, or actions taken to correct the error.
California passed legislation in 2006 requiring the reporting of all never events. However hospitals and other providers are still allowed to bill patients for a treatment gone wrong and the treatments caused by their own errors. A recent nation-wide survey found that at least half of the hospitals involved did not have policies waiving the costs incurred through a never event. Furthermore, hospitals on average pass on to other payers 70 percent of the cost arising from the medical errors caused by negligence.
Mike Feuer proposes protecting patients as well as consumers. Patients who have been harmed by medical errors should not be responsible for paying the bill for those errors. Healthcare providers need to be made financially responsible for the commission of such medical errors; this will help ensure such devastating errors never occur.
Why is this bill having such a hard time passing? It didn't pass last year as AB 2146, and this year as AB 542 it's seeing some opposition. There are some inane technicalities that patients could get caught up in if the bill passes, which further illustrates how raunchy our healthcare system is. For example, a patient reports to the Emergency Room and is found to have a sponge left inside that has eroded the biliary duct. The patient needs to transfer to a hospital with a hepatobiliary specialist to repair this never event. However, according to the legislation, the patient and her/his insurer cannot be billed for the services required to repair the injury. So, good luck finding a hospital that will accept the patient.
Opposers say that the bill creates precedent for a long list of never events that patients won't have to pay for. They are going as far as to say that a patient's care won't be reimbursed if they acquire C. diff colitis from antibiotic treatment. This balking is ridiculous because never events are clearly measurable, preventable medical errors that result in severe disability or death, there is no slippery slope.
Mike Feuer has worked hard on bills to oversee our long-term care facilities, regulate hospitals and protect the patients they serve. He is a leader in the debate over health reform and has worked with advocacy groups to limit the incidence of never events. Specifically, the Congress of California Seniors (a non-partisan private organization) has been by his side in this fight because never events devastate the health and finances of our seniors.
Mike Feuer has been a strong voice in the fight for a better safety net system to protect seniors and vulnerable families. AB 542 is another effort to improve the health and well-being of Californians, by protecting consumers from being billed for never events. Implementation of this bill would improve healthcare practices and protect patients by guarding them from being billed for obscene medical errors.
I planned to attend this a few days ago, and confirmed my attendance with MoveOn. I planned on arriving between 8:15-8:30AM for a 9AM Town Hall in San Carlos. This morning after showering, I saw I had received email from Move On, suggesting that people plan on arriving two hours early. It was a little too late for me for that, but I hurried up and arrived 90 minutes early... To find I was the first person to arrive. So, I watched the set-up, etc, which was fairly boring.
I did learn that 80% of the San Carlos police department was at the park. It was going to be very hot there, as we're in the midst of a warm spell, and most of the audience area was in the sun. It was already 80 degrees by 9AM. I talked with a couple people attending, and was struck by the nature of CA-12, electing people directly effected by religious insanity: Leo Ryan, killed in Jonestown, Tom Lantos, the only Congressman who also was in a Concentration Camp, and now Jackie Speier, who was an aid to Leo Ryan and was shot in Jonestown.
Congresswoman Speier arrived roughly on time, and the fun began.
I am proud to announce that last night, the Ventura County Central Committee became the first committee nationwide to approve the FireDogLake resolution only supporting such healthcare reform as contains at least the choice of a robust public option. Robert Cruickshank's Central Committee in Monterey had the resolution on the agenda, but did not get to it before the scheduled adjournment.
This is part of a national effort to get Democratic clubs and central committees nationwide to adopt similar resolutions over the coming month, and forward them on to Congressmembers whose districts are geographically aligned with the county/club making the endorsement. My brother and fellow Calitician Dante Atkins helped rewrite the language of the resolution so that it fit with California resolution rules.
If you are a member of a Democratic or progressive club--or, better yet, a member of your Central Committee--I highly encourage you to submit the same or very similar resolution to your local club/committee as well, in order to leverage maximum pressure on your representatives.
The text of the resolution adopted by the VCDCC was as follows:
WHEREAS, the heath care system of the United States is in crisis, with almost fifty million Americans lacking any health insurance, tens of millions more lacking adequate coverage, and millions more who do have private coverage paying increasingly unaffordable premiums, resulting in inadequate access to care and premature death, illness, or financial ruin for millions of Americans; and
WHEREAS, public polls show that an overwhelming majority of Americans want health care reform to offer the choice of a robust public option similar to Medicare in order to, in the words of President Obama, "keep the insurance companies honest," while co-ops or so-called "triggers" are inadequate in and of themselves to address the health care crisis by creating significant competition for the medical insurance industry; and
WHEREAS, Republicans and their allies in the health insurance industry have organized and funded groups of extremists to disrupt efforts on the part of the Democratic majority and administration to reasonably discuss the issue with the American people, and have demonstrated an utter unwillingness to compromise in any way to pass meaningful health care reform;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee urges Democratic members of Congress to vote for only such healthcare reform proposals as contain at least the choice for a robust public plan at all stages of the legislative process including conference and reconciliation, and encourages Democratic legislators to use any available parliamentary means to pass such reform;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Ventura County Democratic Central Committee shall send a copy of this resolution to all members of Congress who represent at least a part of the geographic region of which this Committee is the officially sanctioned body of the Democratic Party.
The resolution will be forwarded on to Elton Gallegly and to Lois Capps. Capps has not signed the FDL pledge even though she represents a D+10 district; FDL is also placing phone pressure on 106 Democratic representatives in such districts to encourage them to sign the pledge for a public option.
A new initiative organized by Howie Klein, Jane Hamsher, fellow Calitician Dante Atkins and myself to verbally and financially reward Congressmembers who pledge to vote down any healthcare bill that does not include the public option is catching fire today. The objective is to use carrots as well as sticks to achieve progressive goals. As I said in the diary kicking off this intiative at DailyKos:
Human beings are psychologically predictable creatures, much like Pavlov's famous canine. We do respond well to punishment, but we respond just as well if not better to positive reinforcement. Do nothing but beat a dog with a stick, and the dog is likelier to be aggressive than lovingly loyal. Do nothing but scream at a child, and the child will eventually fail to respond to her abusive parent. Senators and Representatives, no matter how elevated, are still just people: the rules of psychological conditioning still apply. If all we can do is scream at people who don't do what we want, eventually no one will listen to us at all.
If you have the resources, please consider donations to our excellent California legislators. For those who can't chip in, DFA has a thank you action item to thank our healthcare heroes.
With an approach that uses more carrots and less sticks, hopefully we can encourage others in California and across the country to join these brave progressive leaders.
Aug. 5 -- More than a hundred CNA/NNOC registered nurses rallied on the steps of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center today with a simple message for the public: California and the nation's hospitals are not prepared to handle the H1N1 influenza, known as swine flu, when it hits the country full force this fall, and frontline registered nurses, other healthcare workers, patients, and the public are all in serious jeopardy.
Contact: Linda Sutton, PDLA Co-Chair, 818-992-5187 lindasutton.ca@gmail.com
6/27/09 Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles Healthcare Forum Co-sponsored by PDA-SMM, Valley Democrats United, SoCal Grassroots,
North Valley Democratic Club, SCV Democrats, and DPSFV Van Nuys State Building, Van Nuys, CA (Over 100 attending).
HEALTH CARE SURVEY of 88 returned forms:
78 favor SINGLE PAYER. 7 checked "public option" (but 5 were double votes with SP) and 5 gave PO as a 2nd choice.
83 said that "insurance, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries exercise TOO MUCH influence over Congress. 71 said this of the president.
81 said "healthcare is a right"
82 agreed with "our healthcare system in broken"
79 have insurance; 45 are happy with it; 24 pay for it themselves, 15 paid by employer,20 are a combination, 17 others were Medicare.
67 "agree with President Obama's three principles of reform" but many said they needed more details.
We will gather at the corner of Topanga Canyon Blvd. and Califa at the Warner Center Park at 5PM.
By we I mean Pris from LA and I and a handful of other Kossacks who indicated they will be there.
This is a strategic location near the HQs for many HMOS (the Blues, HealthNet, Wellpoint and others). And we will hold this Single Payer Happy Hour every last Friday.
It would be nice if this diary, however unimpressive, would be Recommended and/or Rescued so that this Kossack organized demonstration gets more visibility.
Bring signs and flags. We'll have fliers to pass around.
In Canada, it took the dogged determination of one province, Saskatchewan, and a visionary leader Tommy Douglas, to pave the path to a national health care system, which they call Medicare.
For all the detractors of the Canadian system in the studios of Fox News and the board rooms of rightwing think tanks, consider this one note: In 2004, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation conducted a national poll to select the greatest Canadian of all time. The winner in a landslide -- Tommy Douglas.
For the past few months I have been holding town hall forums across California and no matter where I go, the issue of health care is front and center. These concerns are getting more pronounced and more passionate as the weeks wear on and unemployment continues to rise. People are losing their employer-based health care and COBRA is a temporary and expensive stopgap measure that is stressing already maxed-out family budgets.
The need for bold programs addressing the health care crisis was brought into focus by a new UC Berkeley report showing that more than 500,000 Californians have lost their health care since the start of the recession.
In the past five years, we have worked hard to provide universal health care in San Francisco through our Healthy San Francisco program. We have now enrolled over 38,000 of our city's estimated 60,000 uninsured. It's a great start but there is still much work to do here in San Francisco and across California as the new UC Berkeley report clearly lays out.
On my Green 960 radio show this week I talked with Lloyd Dean, the head of Catholic Healthcare West, Mitch Katz, Director of San Francisco Department of Public Health and Tangerine Brigham, Director of Healthy San Francisco about how to bring the "Healthy SF" model to other cities and towns throughout California.
As we discuss on the show, a critical next step for any city or town looking to replicate Healthy SF is to start organizing their community health clinics. Community clinics have historically provided services to uninsured and underserved populations. It's important for any health care effort at the local, state or federal level to include these crucial providers.
I hope you will listen to the show and let us know your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section as we work to create better health care service here and universal health care across California. As the President and Congress move to reform the health care system in Washington - the time is now to let your voice be heard.
With the final White House Forum on healthcare scheduled Monday, April 6 in downtown Los Angeles, advocates of single payer/guaranteed healthcare have one more opportunity to shake up what has become a dreary conventional wisdom about the presumed acceptable parameters of the debate.
Hundreds of nurses, doctors, healthcare and labor activists will rally at 9 a.m. outside the California Endowment, 1000 North Alameda St., Los Angeles.
It will mark the fifth time, at all five White House regional forums, that the single payer/Medicare for all message will come to the stage, outside and inside the forum. You can extend that to the town hall meeting at the White House last week where the President was asked why we can't have a national healthcare system like they have in other industrialized nations.
(Good as always to hear from our Lt. Governor. - promoted by Julia Rosen)
My job and your government's job are to protect your job today and tomorrow. California's legislators are left little choice but to swallow hard and accept a very bad budget deal put together in secret without any public hearings and public input, all contrary to the open meeting laws of the state. The tragedy of this budget is that it robs our ability to advance our values and expand our economy by insuring a well-educated workforce. The budget does not allow us to provide adequate resources for the least among us. The budget does not allow transportation, water, and sanitation systems to keep up with population growth. Sadly this budget will force us to abandon robust research programs that will create tomorrow's wealth.
The governor wants to be known as the green governor, the education governor, the reform governor, yet he has utterly failed to lead a budget process that in the remotest way advances any of these goals. There is no real reform of education, prisons, or the state funded healthcare programs in this budget. Yet it is in real reform that efficiencies and increased effectiveness is found and fair cuts can be made. A significant change is in labor contracts that are unilaterally altered, setting aside a long and honorable negotiation process between labor and management. Where is the effort in this budget to advance the green economy?
Unfortunately the budget that is to be voted on in the days ahead does nothing to position California for a quick return to a healthy and growing economy. In fact the budget hastens the starvation of our educational programs at every level, thereby directly and in many case irreversibly damaging millions of our children. The budget accelerates the financial decline of the University of California and the largest university in America, the California State University. California needs teachers, engineers, nurses, doctors, and every other job skill. This budget gets a D in meeting the educational needs of tomorrow's workforce.
I hear the chants in my head. When I need them, they come to me.
This line is especially true right now for the former members of United Healthcare Workers-West. We are the union. A week and a half ago, many of my sisters and brothers and I slept in our union hall, before the hostile takeover by our International, SEIU. As we held our hall, my sisters and I worked to maintain our union. We fended off anyone SEIU sent to weasel their way in without warrants. We planned how we'd move forward during an imminent occupation: how we'd communicate with each other; how we would reach deep into our membership to take our union back.
It occurred to me that night hunched over the bare desks in the communication department office, the union solidarity posters hanging behind me, that though we had been member leaders up to that point, stewards and activists for union democracy, something had changed. This was a sort of matriculation, graduation day.
(From our Lt. Governor... - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
In early January I proposed an accelerated medical education program at the University of California Merced designed to prepare high quality doctors and nurses for rewarding careers in the Central Valley. Yesterday at the UC Regents' meeting, UC President Mark Yudof committed to establishing a first class undergraduate medical education program at UC Merced, and he promised to continue the planning process for post-graduate medical education at the campus. The President's important commitment could be the important first step toward the accelerated medical school program I envision.
A medical program in the region will help address the serious health care problems of the San Joaquin Valley, home to the state's highest rates of childhood asthma and premature birth. A serious shortage of medical services exists in the Valley; there are 31 percent fewer primary care doctors, 51 percent fewer specialists, and fewer nurses than California as a whole. An estimated $845 million dollars is lost annually in the region when Central Valley patients drive out of the area to receive medical care.
In a brilliant, stunning move indicating their mastery of the PR field, America's largest retailer has just released a press release, the real meat of which is how good they are at press releases... press releases that are so transparently phony that my cat rolled his eyes at me when I read it aloud.
The thing is, they release press releases about their policies all the time-- about as often as they proclaim that they're ~rolling back prices~ or ~helping you live better~ or whatever truckload of utter crap they're using for a slogan these days.
Let me start by saying that I am a supporter of single payer health care. It is the solution that makes the most sense in curing our health care ills and is the only system that offers a long term solution to availability, affordability and access. In short, it is the "gold standard."
Single payer health care passed the California Legislature this past Sunday. It is a great victory for proponents of universal single payer health care, but was hardly unexpected. All the hoopla over its passage is fine, but now the real work begins — continues really. Single payer is still not law and in spite of all the hopes that Governor Schwarzenegger will have a change of heart and sign SB 840, it ain't gonna happen. Just as he did last time, he is certain to veto it again this time.
More and Better Democrats. We in the netroots are the most vigorous champions of candidates who truly represent their districts, candidates who challenge the status quo and demand tangible changes in our government. If we had the power to create the quintessential strong Democrat, we'd be hard put to make up someone more authentic, intelligent, and schooled in the needs of his community than Manuel Perez.
At the SEIU hearing on the future of healthcare workers in California, a colleague sitting near me turned and asked: "Why would SEIU try to do this?" It was the same question I'd been asking myself. The evidence is so abundant that one statewide union for all healthcare workers (exemplified by UHW) has succeeded in raising standards and influencing healthcare policy. There is no evidence that dividing nursing home and homecare workers from hospital workers has achieved anything close to these gains.
UPDATED - see this video coverage of our march into the SEIU International officials' secret meeting.
Today, myself and 5,000 other UHW members from all over the state are in Manhattan Beach to protest. But we're not protesting another corrupt boss. We're protesting a process rigged by SEIU International officials designed to take away the voices of 65,000 long-term care workers in California.
What's this all about? It's about whether SEIU, our union, will stand on the principles of democracy and be governed by its members, or whether Washington D.C. union officials will force us into another union, against our wishes and against our vote. We are here to say clearly: we are not to be moved around like pieces of furniture. We won't be forced out of our union against our will.
In the past, we have been critical of SEIU leaders in D.C. meeting behind closed doors to cut deals that hurt healthcare workers. But now we've seen it in action.
Let me start by saying that I am a supporter of single payer health care. It is the solution that makes the most sense in curing our health care ills and is the only system that offers a long term solution to availability, affordability and access. In short, it is the "gold standard."
