Capitol Press Conference Wednesday: Calif. Nurses Welcome Introduction of Single-Payer Bill To Establish Guaranteed Healthcare for All Californians

Leaders of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee will join a press conference at the Capitol Wednesday for the introduction of a bill to guarantee comprehensive, quality, cost-effective healthcare for all Californians.

Senate Bill 810, authored by Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco, is the new version of SB 840, the single payer, Medicare-for-all-style bill, carried in previous years by now-retired Sen. Sheila Kuehl. SB 840, the first single payer bill ever passed by a state legislative body, was passed twice by the state legislature.

WHEN:   Wednesday, March 11, 10 a.m.
WHERE: State Capitol, Room 1190, Sacramento

"At a time of economic distress, with growing numbers of families, even those with private insurance, forced to abandon needed medical care, or facing financial calamity if they need medical treatment, the need for this vital reform could not be more clear," said Deborah Burger, RN, a CNA/NNOC co-president who will speak at the press conference.

"SB 810 is the only healthcare reform in California that protects choice, reins in skyrocketing costs that are mostly related to insurance company practices, and puts care decisions in the hands of patients, families, doctors and nurses, not insurance companies," Burger said.

Sen. Leno, CNA/NNOC Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro, and other legislators will be joined at the press conference by doctors, medical students, patients, other labor representatives, and community healthcare activists.

SB 810 establishes a state-administered system to provide comprehensive coverage to all Californians, delivered by our current mostly private network of physicians, hospitals, doctors’ offices, and other providers. Coverage would no longer be tied to job status or health condition or subject to ever-rising premiums, co-pays and deductibles.

It is similar to a bill in Congress, HR 676. Both come at a time of rising public demand for comprehensive, genuine healthcare reform.