Back on the Dave Jones train! Make 6 calls!

Yes, Californians who want to see the Insurance Commissioner given the ability to stop unreasonable increases in health insurance premiums, it's time to get back on the Dave Jones train!  This wonderful and needed bill, A.B. 52, comes before the Senate Appropriations Committee this Thursday for, once again, a live-or-die vote!

(For those who want background on A.B. 52 and the fight for sanity, justice, and responsibility, here are my two diaries from late April and my two diaries from early June, charting the bill's progress through the Assembly, and my five diaries from late in June and early July charting the bill's progress through the State Senate's Health Committee.  You do not have to read them all before you make calls.  (My guess is that I didn't really have to say that, did I?)

Come on, activists and proto-activists!  Do we have to just sit on the sidelines and pray for succor, like myriad Rick Perrys trying to avoid thinking about climate change?  NO WE DO NOT!  We can make calls to the six Democrats on the committee!  We can tell them that we want this bill!  Here, I think I even have their phone numbers!

Senator Christine Kehoe (Chair) -- [phone]
Senator Elaine Alquist -- [phone]
Senator Ted W. Lieu -- [phone]
Senator Fran Pavley -- [phone]
Senator Curren Price -- [phone]
Senator Darrell Steinberg -- [phone]

Insurance companies and their thralls, whose very fabulous richness depends on taking an unwarranted and unreasonably huge share of our premium dollars, are going to be sure to have their people (or hired people, or corporate people, whatever) on the phone begging, pleading, cajoling, and threatening for a "no" vote.  We are the counterweight!  So, come on, everyone, counterweigh!

I'm going to ask you to check in with your progress below, but first let's hear from the man of the mid-week!

From Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones:

Dear Friends:

One of the most important bills of the year is awaiting a vote in the Senate.  AB 52 (Feuer and Huffman) gives the Insurance Commissioner the authority to reject excessive health insurance rate increases before they go into effect.  Due to the intense lobbying of the insurance industry, each vote has been a close one and we expect the same with the next vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The insurance industry is doing everything in its power to prevent this bill from becoming law.  My office gets calls every day from Californians who cannot afford health insurance premium increases. Senators, whose votes will determine the fate of AB 52, need to hear from you.

Insurance regulators in 34 other states and the District of Columbia already have the authority to reject excessive health insurance rate hikes. We know this approach works. Thanks to the voter approved Proposition 103, California's Insurance Commissioners have been able to reject excessive auto and homeowners' insurance rates since 1988, saving consumers and businesses tens of billions of dollars. It's well past the time to extend the same authority to reject excessive rate hikes to health insurance.

Many of you have been contacting Assemblymembers and Senators throughout the year asking them to vote for AB 52.  Thanks to you, the bill passed the Assembly despite the intense lobbying efforts by the health insurance industry. Thanks to more calls and emails from supporters, AB 52 then passed through the Senate Health Committee.

We expect a vote in the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, August 25th.  Please start calling the Democratic members of the Senate Appropriations Committee TODAY and ask them to vote for AB 52.

The following is a list of the Senate Appropriations Committee members and their Capitol Office telephone numbers:

Senator Christine Kehoe (Chair) -- [phone]
Senator Elaine Alquist -- [phone]
Senator Ted W. Lieu -- [phone]
Senator Fran Pavley -- [phone]
Senator Curren Price -- [phone]
Senator Darrell Steinberg -- [phone]

Thank you for all of your help. You really are making a difference.

Dave

In other words: WE NEED THIS BILL!

So get onto the phone, make those six calls, and check in with your results in comments!

7:50 PM PT: jpmassar put up another diary on this topic today, and was more successful -- but only a little.  I shall now be forced to enlist people in this effort through humor and misleading diary titles.  You have been warned.