Democratic Party, League of Women Voters, Community Groups Sign On for Single Payer

The OneCareNow campaign in support of Sheila Kuehl's SB 840 single payer health care bill has accelerated tremendously with the addition of major statewide organizations to the Health Care for All - CA campaign. The state League of Women Voters is making this campaign a major priority, and at the local level they are taking responsibility for organizing events in support of SB 840 in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties

The OneCareNow campaign will start in mid-August with events in small communities around the state, building over the next 365 days until it reaches Hayward and Fremont next July, and Oakland in August. The year-long series of events ends in Los Angeles, the state's largest city. Community action teams in each of the 365 towns and cities will circulate the OneCareNow petition, seek endorsements from local city councils, and plan an event on 'their' day to promote single payer.

In addition to the League, Health Access has also stepped up to the plate. They are working with activists in East Contra Costa to plan events in eight communities in that county. The League will be working with Health Access in Contra Costa and the Hayward Demos in Alameda County's Eden Area. The two groups will develop events in Castro Valley, Hayward, San Leandro and San Lorenzo.

Vote Health will coordinate a number of community teams, in some cases introducing local groups to each other for the purpose of collaborating on their special event in support of SB 840. Events in the larger cities such as Oakland and Fremont don't take place until the summer of 2007, so we are focusing on the smaller towns and cities that come up earlier on the schedule.

Democrats Endorse Single Payer

On the political front, our allies in the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, HCA-CA, and CNA were successful in persuading the Democratic Party convention to adopt a single payer plank in its platform! It took two days and the help of Sara Rogers of Senator Kuehl's staff to finally convince the Dems to add the following language to their platform: "California should lead the nation in providing comprehensive quality health care to all our people by transitioning to a single-payer public health care system." The official site of the Calif. Democratic Party - www.cadem.org-states that the new platform should be on their website the first week in May, so you can look for an official copy of it there to use with candidates and elected officials.

Kudos to single payer activists for this singular victory! The SB 840 East Bay Coalition was treated to a riveting blow-by-blow account by convention delegate and Wellstone member Suzi Goldmacher at our last meeting, a rare moment to savor before digging into the work of the 365 campaign!

For further information about SB 840 and the OneCareNow campaign, check websites healthcareforall.org and OneCareNow.org, where you can also sign the petition online or download copies to circulate.

Join the OneCareNow Campaign

As the OneCareNow campaign begins to pick up steam, there are numerous opportunities for Vote Health members to participate and help to grow the movement for single payer health care. In order to tap the great talent among our membership, we are asking you to look over the following list and provide us with a sense of which activities you would like to participate in that build this movement.
(download MS Word Doc)

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