Vote Them Out
Editor:
Thank you Suzanne Cook for your letter concerning California Senate Bill 562 (Mailbox, Aug. 31). This is such important legislation that would provide all residents of California with "access" to healthcare we all need, minus the co-pays, deductibles and premiums, the cost of which continue to rise without restriction and which demand people choose between paying the rent, buying food, visiting their physician or purchasing their exorbitantly expensive medications.
Recently the executive board of the California Democratic Party endorsed S.B. 562 by a unanimous vote. However, Democratic Assembly Speaker and Rules Committee Chair Anthony Rendon, standing as a protective front for "corporate" Democrats, has refused to co-sponsor this bill and, worse, has shelved and refused to release S.B. 562 to the Assembly committees tasked with the discussion, debate and amending of it. It is their job ... and why we elected them. He believes the "no added value" insurance industry deserves a place at the table in this discussion, hence his recent distracting "select committee" move. This select committee will do nothing to move this bill forward and it delays any discussion by the Assembly, which allows the bill to remain shelved, and for corporate Democrats hopefully die. Our local elected Assemblymember Jim Wood is one of those standing behind Mr. Rendon.
Mr. Wood chairs the Assembly Health Committee and should be pushing to move this bill into Assembly committees for discussions and amendments. To do less allows more people to die due to lack of access. For more information on the contents and benefits of S.B. 562, visit www.healthycalifornia.org. One can also research the financial aspect of this bill by looking up the economic analysis of it by University of Massachusetts-Amherst professor of economics Robert Pollin at www.peri.umass.edu/publication/item/996-economic-analysis-of-the-healthy-california-single-payer-health-care-proposal-sb-562.
If an elected official's actions protect their insurance industry donors rather than their constituents, please call and let them know your thoughts. And the 2018 elections are where one should be expressing their dissatisfaction by voting such legislators out of office.
Kathryn Donahue, McKinleyville
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