Dellums: Health care faces crisis

State lawmakers discuss possibility of universal medical coverage at Oakland forum
Heather MacDonald
Oakland Tribune
March 18, 2007

The political stars are aligned to expand health care coverage to at least some of the 6.6 million Californians currently without insurance, the state's top lawmakers said Saturday.

But many at a forum held at Oakland City Hall said that wasn't good enough and urged Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and state Sen. President Pro Tem Don Perata to push for universal health care < regardless of the political realities in the Capitol.

"The lack of health care is a major and significant crisis in this country, in this state and in this community," said Mayor Ron Dellums, who hosted the event. "We must join together in a mighty coalition to bring health care to this community."

Five proposals are pending in Sacramento, including one from state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, which was referred to several times as the "gold standard" and received loud cheers from the audience, mostly made up of union members.

Nunez and Perata have each proposed legislation, and Nunez pledged that the two would sit down and iron out their differences to present a unified Democratic plan.

Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Oakland, said the number of uninsured Americans < estimated at 50 million people - is the great civil rights issue of our time. "It is a moral challenge," Swanson said. "We must take advantage of this opportunity, and all this attention."

Nunez would require businesses to offer health care insurance and cover most of the cost with individuals paying the rest. Perata's plan would require everyone to have insurance, whether they purchased it directly or were covered by their employer or the government. "The goal should be
universal health care," Nunez said. "But we have to take incremental steps because of the political realities."

Nunez, who represents Los Angeles' east side, said his highest priority was to make sure the poor people he represented had access to health care. "Before we get to the perfect, we have to get to the good," Nunez said.

Perata said California should set the national example for health care, as it has on climate change. "We will do it in conjunction with Republicans, or by ourselves, but we will do it," Perata said.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also has proposed requiring everyone to have health insurance, and Nunez praised him for recognizing the need. However, many in the audience were members of the California Nurses Association and Service Employees International Union/United Healthcare
Workers - longtime political foes of the governor - and hissed at the mention of his name.

Donna Gerber, the director of government relations for the California Nurses Association, said only Kuehl's universal coverage bill would stop the $20 billion wasted by the current health care system. "Any other proposal is like treating a lung cancer patient with cigarette smoke,"
Gerber said.

Last week, a task force formed by Dellums to advise his administration urged him to establish 100 new points of access and launch a media campaign to counter Oakland's image as a crime-ridden, blighted city in an effort to improve residents' mental health.

One of the conveners, Dr. Coyness L. Ennix Jr., said Saturday he did not think universal health care was out of reach despite Nunez and Perata's remarks. "If we fight for it, we can achieve it," Ennix said, to applause.

Dellums thanked the 80 members of the task force and asked them to keep working on the issues that arose in their meetings. "I will make an extraordinary effort to implement these recommendations," Dellums said.

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