Health Care
Editorial

What a SiCKO system. Even our schools are feeling the pain.

By Sylvia Hampton


Co-Director Health Care for All/CA, San Diego County Chapter

If you saw the new movie “SiCKO,” the documentary/comedy/tragedy about our health care system, you saw how the
for-profit, market-based system we have in the U.S. is just plain horrible.

Good doctors finding themselves ground up in a system that rewards them for denying care.  30% of every premium
dollar going for advertising, marketing, stockholder dividends and campaign contributions to elected officials.

And what do these corporations do in the arena of actual health care?  Nothing. They are simple middlemen who
collect money and pay out for services.

The idea is, of course, to increase what comes in and reduce what goes out. The executives have a legal mandate to
create those profits for their stockholders. The larger the number of premium payers (risk pool), the better for them.
Thus the battle for the largest pool.

They are like the moneychangers Jesus threw out of the Temple.  You know the story---he was so angry when he saw
them profiting on the backs of the poor that he turned the table over and their coins went flying. That’s how people
feel when they see “SiCKO.”  Angry.  Ready to do something to change this mess.  

The system is not working for the benefit of our people---just the benefit of the profit hounds.

The only bill moving through the state legislature now that removes the profit-taking from the picture is SB840. All
the others tinker around the edges, with no real fundamental change where it is needed most.

The California Universal Health Insurance Act, (SB840) will create the largest pool of all (the whole state) and take
out the profit motive, making health care providers compete on the basis of quality of services. All health care
services stay private—only the method of paying changes.

Patients will choose their own doctors from all the doctors---not just the ones on a finite list. Everyone pays a fair fee
into the system and all government programs for health care, including the single-payer Medicare, will continue.
Doctors make the decisions on how to care for you. The goal here is to create a healthier population. What a concept!

The most amazing thing about SB840 is how it can cover everyone with comprehensive benefits that include mental
health, dental and vision--and save money at the same time. Businesses, families, governments and yes, school
districts will be better off.  

Every district and county office of education must submit its financial data to the California Department of Education
in a uniform format called Standardized Account Code Structure.  Districts report revenues and expenditures to the
CDE prior to the completion of their annual audit.

I was astounded to learn that school districts in San Diego County would stand to either save money or be able to cover
their employees fully with much, much better benefits. San Diego City Schools, on the report from last years data,
under SB840 would have had a cost savings of over $62 million.

After this next audit report it may be even more. Grossmont Union High School District would save over $3 million--
and La Mesa over $600,000. (City of La Mesa?  Or La Mesa Spring Valley School District?)That’s money that could go
into the classroom.

We need SB 840. It passed both houses of the state legislature last year, but Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger vetoed it.  He needs to see SiCKO. Contact him at  <  http://gov.ca.
gov/interact#contact  > .

Also tell your Assembly Member, either George Plescia <http://legplcms01.lc.ca.
gov/PublicLCMS/ContactPopup.aspx?district=AD75&> or Joel Anderson  <http://www.joelforassembly.
com/pages/contact.html>  how you feel, but don’t forget  state Senator Dennis Hollingsorth  at <http:
//legplcms01.lc.ca.gov/PublicLCMS/ContactPopup.aspx?district=SD36 >.

(To find your voting information and who won in all the districts you vote in, see:  www.smartvoter.org/  and key in your
address.)

Our  health care dollars need to go to health care.  If these representatives care about fiscal responsibility, they should support
SB 840. Hold their feet to the fire!  Ask them what they plan to do when the vote comes up for SB840.

They are the “deciders” for you in Sacramento.
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