Fran Pavley's Health Care Mailer included a photo of her with progressive State Senator Sheila Kuehl and identified Kuehl as author of the vetoed single payer Universal Health Act, SB 840. However, not only did Pavley not endorse Kuehl's bill in the mailer, she included code words accepting the role of private insurance and opposing single payer and the economies of it.
Fran Pavley and opponent Lloyd Levine have been filling mail boxes in the 23rd Senate District with mailers. Pavley has prominently included pictures of outgoing State Senator Kuehl, and a signed endorsement for Pavley.
Kuehl proposed a single payer universal state health plan, SB 840, that Schwarzenegger vetoed. Reviewing health reform in California, Kuehl said:
"Simply put, insurance companies will not support any plan that would prevent them from continuing to raise premiums 2-3 times faster than wages, limits that must be imposed in order for any long term financing to work."
http://www.healthcareforall.org/kuehl.html
About Kuehl, documentary Sicko producer Michael Moore said:
In recognizing that for-profit insurance is incompatible with a caring, a moral and a high-quality health care system that provides coverage for all, Senator Kuehl is leading the fight to break the industry's death grip on our health care system. I believe the people are on your side.
http://www.dist23.casen.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7BE8682787-AE26-46B2-8252-E528F9D0145E%7D
District residents inferring from the mailers that Pavley intended to continue the progressive tradition of Kuehl for the district got a big disappointment when they read Pavley's health care mailer.
The back page, above Kuehl's signature, stated "Sheila Kuehl, the author of The California Universal health Act endorses FRAN PAVLEY."
Reading through the mailer, one expects to find an endorsement of Kuehl's bill. However not only is it not there, Pavley included code words saying no she doesn't support single payer and will not challenge the insurance companies and their million executive salaries and 30 percent administrative costs. The brochure states, on the second page:
". . .Fran Pavley has a proven history of effective action. She brings people together to find common ground."
In Sacramentoese, the language of the special interests in Sacramento, "common ground" are code words candidates use to tell the special interests that they will not challenge their entrenched positions in the economic and political order. The corporations and their lobbyists can safely contribute to their campaigns without fear that the candidate might perceive conflicts between their profits and the public interest, as Kuehl did with SB 840.
The idea is that "common ground" would never include anything detrimental to the special interests, like single payer, because that would never be "common."
People not used to the language of Sacramento would miss the significance of the words.
Pavley could not have more stated clearly that she has no intention of fighting the insurance industry's death grip on our health care system.
A Google search on Pavley's web site returns: "Your search - site:http://www.franpavley.com/ health - did not match any documents."
Doctors and nurses are not necessarily single payer proponents because their incomes might fall under a single payer system.
"Single payer" refers to a system like Medicare for people above age 65 in which one payer, the Medicare system, pays all medical bills from a single risk pool.
Ideological thinkers of the political right oppose single payer systems like Medicare because they effectively redistribute income from people with higher levels of income to people with lower levels and view such as "class warfare."
Her opponent, Lloyd Levine, makes no claim of following the progressive tradition of Sheila Kuehl.
Levine and Pavley are the only candidates for the Democratic nomination.
The District runs irregularly along the coast from La Brea Blvd. in Los Angeles on the East to Port Hueneme in Ventura County on the West. It includes Malibu and a portion of the San Fernando Valley.
Original: Senate Candidate Fran Pavley Upsets Supporters with Code Words in Health Care Mailer