{"article":{"id":191351,"heading":"Gov's health plan good step, but universal coverage doomed, say Greens","author":"twirl","created":"2007-01-11 00:40:57","modified":"2013-11-11 00:46:49","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 08:46:49","article":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<?xml encoding=\"UTF-8\"><html><body><p>News Advisory <br><br>            THE GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA       www.cagreens.org <br><br> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE <br>  <br> Tuesday, January 9, 2007 <br><br> Contact: Susan King, spokesperson, 415.823-5524 funking at mindspring.com <br>  <br><br>     Sara Amir, spokesperson, 310.270-7106 saraamir at earthlink.net <br>  <br><br>     Cres Vellucci, press secretary, 916.996-9170 civillib at cwnet.com  <br><br>  <br>  <br> Governor's health plan step in right direction, <br>  <br> but universal coverage doomed because politicos <br>  <br> too &lsquo;in debt' to powerful special interests, say Greens <br><br> SACRAMENTO (January 9, 2007) &ndash; The governor's just released health plan is <br>  <br> a step in the right direction toward covering all Californians &ndash; but any <br>  <br> true universal health care plan is doomed because Democratic and Republican <br>  <br> lawmakers are too in debt to the insurance industry, said a spokesperson <br>  <br> for the Green Party of California Monday. <br><br> \"The quality of health care should not depend on how wealthy someone is or <br>  <br> is not. The plan announced by the governor has promise because it addresses <br>  <br> &ndash; although not adequately &ndash; the big profits by insurance companies,\" said <br>  <br> Larry Cafiero, the Green Party Insurance Commissioner candidate in November. <br><br> While the governor said 85 percent of insurance premiums must go to the <br>  <br> patient's care, true universal healthcare could do much, much better. <br>  <br> Canada's successful health care program spends only three cents of a <br>  <br> dollar, or 3 percent, for administrative costs. <br><br> \"Because of big money politics, we are all hurt. Insurance companies will <br>  <br> call in every favor from everyone they've given campaign money to in the <br>  <br> last election to ensure they get their profit &ndash; at the expense of <br>  <br> Californians' health,\" said Cafiero. <br><br> \"Forcing everyone to buy medical insurance doesn't address the root <br>  <br> problem: our system of private medical insurance.  Americans, including <br>  <br> Californians, pay 50 percent more per capita than any other country in the <br>  <br> world, yet ours is the only industrialized country that doesn't cover all <br>  <br> its citizens,\" added Dr. Bob Vizzard, a medical doctor and former GPCA <br>  <br> state senate candidate from Auburn. <br><br> And, according to Wes Rolley, Environmental Coordinator of the GPCA Green <br>  <br> Issues Working Group: \"Maybe more important that trying to find a way to <br>  <br> pay health care costs is looking for a way to eliminate the need for some <br>  <br> health care costs itself. That means addressing problems that arise from <br>  <br> air pollution, childhood obesity and ongoing pollution of our water and <br>  <br> agricultural lands. We need solutions that evolve from understanding how <br>  <br> all parts of the system feed one another: medical, environmental, <br>  <br> educational and economic. We can no longer address any of these in isolation.\" <br><br> ## <br><br> <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"","link":"www.cagreens.org","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Governor's health plan step in right direction,\r\nbut universal coverage doomed because politicos\r\ntoo \u2018in debt' to powerful special interests, says Green Party of California.","numcomment":2,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2007\/01\/191351.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":191364,"heading":"A Screw Over for Poor","article":"If you're poor, you could (will) be forced into a low-premium-high-deductible plan.  Also, the surge in demand will cause the better plans to skyrocket in price, with either higher copays or higher premiums for new members.\r\n\r\nThere needs to be a measure of regulation to put a cap on the deductible, to, say, $300 or something that's not too high.  A poor person living paycheck to paycheck (or in debt) could be wiped out if they're in high-deductible plan.","author":"johnk","parent_id":191351,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-01-11 06:41:17","modified":"2007-01-11 06:41:17","fileurl":""},{"id":191388,"heading":"Ms.","article":"Schwarzenegger's health care plan was obviously written by\r\nthe insurance companies!","author":"Emily Maloney","parent_id":191351,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2007-01-12 00:43:06","modified":"2007-01-12 00:43:06","fileurl":""}]}