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Newsletter: June, 2002
(archive)

Join Us at County Budget Hearings on Health Care

The annual county budget hearings begin June 17th. The focus on health care will take place that Monday at 1221 Oak St., Oakland, in the Board of Supervisor's Chambers, 5th floor, at 1:30 or later. We're encouraging all who can to attend this important hearing to show support for the Alameda County Medical Center and its budgetary needs. The prediction is a $10 million deficit for 2001-02, and between $15 and $40 million for 2002-03, depending on changes at the state and federal levels. According to SEIU Local 616 Communications and Research Specialist Brad Cleveland, "At that magnitude of deficit, we won't be talking about program closures, we'll be looking at closing everything but the acute care hospital!" This makes it even more important that we continue to give the Supervisors our message that health care is a priority!

A coalition of local organizations, including Vote Health, has agreed on the following messages to the Board of Supervisors concerning next year's county budget:

  • Maintain current funding in health-no cuts to health care providers, direct services and programs.
  • Preserve/protect the designation of all tobacco settlement funds for health, as well as the $8 million in tobacco settlement funds for the current four health initiative areas.
  • Maximize enrollment in health insurance programs, particularly Medi-Cal, by implementing the children and Families Health Insurance Task Force recommendation in order to increase access to health care and increase revenue for the County.
  • Explore revenue generating options to cover deficit, meet unmet health care needs.

Single Payer Movement's Renewed Vitality!

Currently there is an increased interest and energy within the single payer movement for a variety of reasons: 1) The recent positive results for single payer from the Health Care Options Project; 2) The continued deterioration of our health care system; 3) the double-digit insurance premium increases soon to be a reality (Kaiser will raise fees 21%!) and; 4) The ever-increasing number of people who are either uninsured or underinsured.

In continuing to rebuild the single payer movement, Vote Health, as an affiliate of Health Care for All-California, will participate in several new campaigns which will bolster growing support for this important cause. In August, a statewide meeting is planned in Sacramento, where representatives from various groups will meet and discuss strategies for major health care reform. We'll be working to rebuild the single payer organizational coalition that was formed for 1994's Prop.186 campaign. A new Single Payer Resolution Campaign will be launched as a means to garner support and do extensive community educational outreach. We need your support and participation in this important project. Look for more details in next month's newsletter and come to the July Vote Health meeting to add your voice!.

Updates

  • The ACMC has a deficit of $10-12 million for the ending fiscal year, and continues to negotiate with the Board of Supervisors about loosening their restrictions for the ACMC taking the $2 million for Fairmont's Skilled Nursing Facility. The ACMC recently announced it plans to keep the SNF open at least until the Fall of 2002.
  • The Oakland Tribune's reporter Donna Horowitz has been doing excellent news coverage of the plight of Fairmont, as well as the Juvenile Hall issue. Readers may remember that Vote Health rallied with Books Not Bars to lobby the Supervisors to build a smaller north county juvenile hall than was planned. It seemed we lost this battle until the Sheriff announced he needed to close North County Jail in Oakland due to budget deficits.
  • Donna's investigations have been helping the county connect the dots to see if that jail can be retrofitted to be a juvenile hall, which isn't clear yet. However, the Department of Corrections has said it would still give the allotted money to the county if it decides to retrofit rather than build a "superjail" in Dublin. This would free up a considerable amount of funds from the county's capital building fund. Then we get to rally our forces to make sure some of that money goes to rebuilding the Fairmont Campus!
  • Health Care for All - Oregon had collected 74,748 signatures as of May 30th toward their single payer initiative. Sixty-seven thousand signatures of eligible voters are required for the initiative to appear on the ballot in Nov. 2002. Signature collection is going to go on until July 1 to be sure that there are enough after the inevitable disqualifications.

Answer to Severe Budget Cuts-
Tax the Richest!

A wide variety of organizations around the state are being more creative than Governor Davis about how to close the enormous budget deficit. In 1991, Californians making over $130,000 for singles, $260,000 for married couples were taxed 10 and 11 percent, and the California Budget Project is calling for a reinstatement of that tax. This would affect 2.4% of state taxpayers and would raise $3.1 billion in 2002-2003, $3.2 billion in 2003-04, and $3.5 in 2004-05.

Don't worry too much about these folks: Last year's federal tax package will give these same high-wage earners substantial savings. The opposition is using arguments such as changing the tax will drive rich people away from California to places like Nevada, where there's no income tax. For more information, log on to www.cbp.org.

Newsletter committee:
Nancy M. Friedman, Beatriz Quezada, Sue Bergman
Our thanks to CA Nurses Association for their help in producing this newsletter.