So 6 Blue Dogs did NOT vote for SB 810. The main reason seems that these, mostly Latino, Senators wanted to give the Affordable Care Act the spotlight leading to the November Presidential election. And who knows what Jerry Brown wants. I expect SB 810 to be up for votie in the California Senate again in January.
This was not a bucket of cold water, for Single Payer activists in California it was a call to arms.
As a member of the Board of Directors of California OneCare(BTW, nyceve is a fellow BoD member) I belong to the LA Committee of the Campaign for a Healthy California which is made up of most of the Single Payer supporting organizations in California.
Our next action (and certainly not the last one) is a street theater event on April 1 downtown LA, the March of the Zombies;
And I will be there as sort of MC with a megaphone.
More below.
This event is the brainchild of Georgia Brewer of Healthcare for Alland Molly Tavella of Physicians for a National Health Plan and California Health Professional Student Alliance and I am very happy to be able to contribute and I hope that some fellow Los Angeles Kossacks may join.
We gather 1:30PM on Sunday April 1 on 8th and Figueroa across from the Blue Cross building by the 7th and Figueroa Red Line Station.
There will be some make up for the zombies and vampires (representing health insurance greedy executives) and hospital gowns for those who want to play patient being chased by the zombies. We’ll have signs for all and bags of fake cash for the patients to throw to zombies and vampires. I’ll announce some of the sign making parties which will take place, the next one is next Wednesday March 21st at the California Nurses Association HQ in Glendale at 4:30PM. The CNA people are one of the biggest supporters of the march, CHC and Single Payer.
We start marching around 2 PM. I get to play the press, I interview zombies and patients with a megaphone instead of a microphone. We march down Figueroa, then 7th street ad the Olive toward Pershing Square. There, PNHP doctors and CAN nurses will wait for the zombies in a tent to convert them to Single Payer supporters.
This PNHP page has all the info you need.
There will be music and speakers. We are reaching out to the key Latino community. There will be speeches in Spanish too.
We are reaching out to the media. Among other things I’ll be on Spanish radio this week.
So join us for a day of fun and support for Single Payer, the only viable solution to the healthcare tragedy in America.