Additional Reading:
The Oakland Tribune published an Op-Ed piece written by Vote Health.

Sutter Won't Deal, Despite Pressure From Politicians and Community

Speak up for Sutter Workers Alta Bates/Summit CEO Warren Kirk and Eden Medical Center's CEO George Bicshalaney continue to be major obstacles to a settlement. You can help by calling the two recalcitrant CEOs in the East Bay. Tell them that you are joining Senator Boxer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi in urging them to accept the mediator's proposal and get on with the business of providing healthcare services to our community. Warren Kirk, CEO, Alta Bates/ Summit, (510) 869-6199, kirkw@sutterhealth.org George Bischalaney, CEO, Eden (510) 727-2703, bischalaneyg@sutterhealth.org

The strike against Sutter Health will start Sept. 13 at the three campuses of the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. No facility in the East Bay (Alta Bates/Summit and Eden Hospitals) will be on strike on Sept. 13. There has been no progress in negotiations, although the federal mediator came up with a compromise proposal which includes some of the items that Sutter agreed to with CNA in their recently-concluded contract. Sutter Health has rejected the mediator's proposal and hasn't offered any counterproposals.

In contrast, SEIU-UHW (formerly Local 250) has accepted the mediator's proposal, which requires them to drop their demand for a master agreement with all Sutter hospitals. The Sutter refusal to accept a reasonable, balanced proposal in order to avert a strike comes despite major intervention by state and national political leaders. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi urged Sutter to agree to what she described as a compromise settlement. She noted, "the impartial mediator's recommendation provides caregivers with a real voice in staffing decisions to ensure that patients come first, establishes a training fund to meet their education and training needs, and guarantees that patient care dollars will not be wasted on fighting employees who wish to join the union."

Senator Barbara Boxer encouraged Sutter officials to accept the mediator's proposal, and she expressed gratitude that the union was willing to agree to it. She hoped that "you [Sutter President Patrick E. Fry] and the affiliates will recognize that a quick resolution is in the best interest of patients and the communities that are potentially affected by any disruption of services. The alternative to an expeditious resolution is not in the public interest."

California Assembly Chair of the Committee on Revenue and Taxation, Johan Klehs, did something more than send a letter or press release. He notified Sutter Health that his committee would soon hold oversight hearings on not-for-profit hospitals operating in California to "review and determine actual practices by tax-exempt hospitals." He noted that the committee is particularly interested in "conducting a detailed examination of Sutter Health, given the scrutiny that it has received from the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, and the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee." Sutter will be requested for information regarding charity care, billing and pricing practices, treatment of the uninsured, tax-exempt status, and related matters.

Sal Rosselli, president of SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West, commented that Sutter has generally appeared to behave as a for-profit corporation, noting their record of "shutting down less profitable services and methodically slashing charity care, price-gouging the uninsured and using heavy-handed collection methods."

He pointed out that "every taxpayer in California is being cheated when supposedly 'not-for-profit' hospitals have business plans based on decreasing access and increasing costs."

Vote Health has worked with other grassroots community organizations, local clergy and just about the entire East Bay legislative delegation in a campaign that has included public forums, participation in bargaining sessions, a candlelight vigil, calls and letters to Sutter officials, and general information to our networks. We plan to continue this support and expect Vote Health to join the picketlines at Alta Bates/Summit and Eden Hospitals when the strike comes to the East Bay - unless, of course, there is a settlement!

If Sutter could settle with its nurses in CNA, they can certainly offer similar staffing language and training opportunities to their lower-paid staff! As we heard loud and clear in the bargaining sessions, this conflict is not about wages but respect!

For the latest news, call the strike hotline ‹ 877/411-SEIU.

Vote Health Exec Sends Letter to Senator Kuehl

A number of Vote Health members raised questions about amendments to SB 840, so the executive committee sent Senator Kuehl a letter regarding changes to the bill¹s language.. We hope to have a response by the Sept. 19 meeting, but in any case we will distribute a copy of the exec's letter.

Legislative Session Ends with Passage of Health Bills

Over a dozen health consumer bills are heading to the Governor's desk for signature or veto. Bills passed on children's coverage, prescription drugs, dependent coverage, consumer protections, etc. The Governor also made decisions on health-related bills passed earlier in the session: he signed AB1359 (Chan) which would extend California's HMO consumer protections to the new prescription drug plans under Medicare D.

Coverage expansions included AB772 (Chan/Frommer), the Healthy Kids Program, which would expand and protect health insurance coverage for all California children, and AB1199 (Frommer/Chan), the Healthy Kids Fund, which creates a fund for this coverage. AB1698 (Nunez) would expand coverage for dependents up to age 26.

Several bills deal with prescription drug price reforms. AB73 (Frommer/Chan) creates a website with information on affordable prescription drug prices for Californians, including assisting consumers with reimportation of drugs from certain countries. AB76 (Frommer/Chan) would create a state drug purchasing pool for state programs. The Governor has already signed SB708 (Speier) which allows non-profit hospitals to benefit from an existing federal prescription drug discount program and in return would obligate those that benefit to increase charity care by an unspecified amount.

A bill aimed at Wal-Mart, AB89(Horton) would require the disclosure of employers of persons dependent on Medi-Cal and Healthy Families!

While all these bills, if signed by the Governor, will expand healthcare coverage to more Californians, we need to remember that passage of SB 840, the single payer bill, would eliminate the need for such piecemeal approaches!

Newsletter committee:
Jan Arnold, Bradley Cleveland, Kay Eisenhower and Jim Forsyth.
Our thanks to CA Nurses Association for their help in producing this newsletter.