Local health care experts and advocates are holding a panel discussion in Mountain View this week to educate residents on the state’s health care system, which they say needs changing.
For several years now, a group called Health Care For All has been lobbying state leaders in Sacramento to pass its bill for a single payer system. Under this system everyone would be insured, and instead of paying premiums to insurance companies, employees and employers would pay one smaller fee to a government agency.
Lynn Huidekoper, a registered nurse and director of the Santa Clara chapter of Health Care for All, compared the single payer system to the current Medicare system.
“No other industrialized country has health care companies making money off the backs of sick people,” she said. To fix the problem, her group proposes “making Medicare for all.”
Both houses in Sacramento passed the bill in 2006, but Gov. Schwarzenegger did not sign it. The bill is currently back in the state Assembly, according to Huidekoper, who said there are thousands of people dying each year due to lack of proper health care.
“We just keep reintroducing [the bill],” Huidekoper said, “until we get a governor who will sign it.”
In the meantime, members of the group are holding meetings to discuss the bill with the public. This week’s panel discussion is Thursday evening, and kicks off with a documentary on the group’s health care proposals.
Health care specialists will then discus local treatment options for the uninsured.
The event is sponsored by the Peninsula Democratic Coalition, the Santa Clara County chapter of Health Care for All, and the Santa Clara County Single Payer Coalition.
INFORMATION:
The upcoming panel discussion is Thursday, July 10 at 7 p.m. at City Hall, located at 500 Castro St. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Lynn Huidekoper at lynn_huidekoper@hotmail.com.
E-mail Casey Weiss at cweiss@mv-voice.com
