SchwarzenCare, Reps Debate & SCHIP--Guaranteed Healthcar

[lizzyj]

the movement for guaranteed healthcare remains centered this week in california, as plans based on huge public subsidies for insurance corporations wend their way through a special session of the legislature.

the good news?

in-fighting has broken out between governor schwarzenegger and some of the dems in the legislature, making it harder for them to reach the anti-patient compromise they're shooting for. rns and patient advocates, among other groups, continue to monitor the situation and work to ensure that any bills hurting patients are defeated.

clarence page notes the central confusion over the schip veto:

...the public has been very supportive of medicare for the elderly, medicaid for the poor and the state children's health insurance program, or schip, for children whose family income is too high for medicaid but too low to afford private coverage. nevertheless, the president and his allies are reduced to reminding people that, "pssst, it's government health care so you're supposed to be afraid of it."

hopefully, george bush is right and s-chip is the first step towards guaranteeing all people, child or adult, have access to healthcare.

right now, that's only true in san francisco.

finally, as health insurance takes a bite out of wages, labor unions getting more involved in healthcare issues, and nurses in the appalachian region are striking. go, nurses!

..

cross-posted at the national nurses organizing committee/california nurses association's breakroom blog, as we organize to make 2007 the year of guaranteed healthcare on the single-payer model.