Jericho for Justice

Jericho Newsletter

Fall 2007 Issue:

Is This the Year To Fix California’s Broken Health Care System?
Abbreviated Comparison of Key Elements of Reform Proposals (PDF)
Interfaith Call to Justice: LA 2007

Is This the Year To Fix California’s Broken Health Care System?

Over 6.8 million Californians are currently uninsured at some point during the year. The cost of health care has continued to rise, co-pays and deductibles have increased and 77% of Californians believe that they are one major illness away from financial distress.

For the past twenty years health care has been one of the top three issues that JERICHO members have surfaced. For the past four years we have focused on health care through workshops around the state and through our advocacy at the Capitol. For most of the past two years we have begun to be hopeful that something might actually happen to improve the health of Californians.

Because the budget was 51 days late, time was lost that could have gone to working out a bi-partisan solution for health care reform. By the time you receive this brief newsletter one of several things may have already happened:

The September 14 deadline to end the legislative year will have passed without a major health care plan enacted.
The Governor will have called a special session to work on health care reform and one or more remaining key issues (including redistricting, term limits, and water storage).
The current bills—SB 840 (Kuehl) and AB 8 (Nunez/Perata) will have been carried over to the second year of the session.
Some less comprehensive bills will have passed in lieu of major reforms—perhaps, but not likely, expansion of children’s coverage.
Groups will be gearing up for a battle of competing ballot measures.

Because there is so much uncertainty at this time, it seemed that at least a summary of what is in the works would be helpful. Currently, there are three major reform proposals currently in play.

All of the proposals have some elements in common but are quite different in their details. A few of the major differences are outlined on the inside pages. For the expanded comparison go to: www.CalHealthReform.org

Affordabilty Is Key To Reform Success

During the health care debates JERICHO, together with other advocates, has been analyzing proposals with an eye to affordability—especially for low-income people. All of the proposals currently on the table rely on “percentage of gross income” as the determinant for share of cost.

As we looked at five different cities—Fresno, San Diego, San Francisco, Redding, and Sacramento—it became clear that where you live has a lot to do with how much buying power similar salaries command. In addition, as we looked at the ages within family constellations we could see that one that had to pay for child care was at a real disadvantage to one that did not.

Policy makers tend to paint with a broad brush. It is the role of advocates to show the effects of those policies on real people.

For an excellent regional analysis see: What Does It Take for a Family to Afford to Pay for Health Care? at www.cbp.org.

Abbreviated Comparison of Key Elements of Reform Proposals (PDF)

Interfaith Call to Justice: LA 2007

Members of religious and community-based organizations from throughout Los Angeles will gather for

Interfaith Call to Justice: LA 2007

To find out together how best to address injustice in their communities.

November 11-12, 2007

Pre-Registration is required.

For information please contact Rabbi Suzanne Singer: rabbisinger@call-to-justice.org

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