Lobbying at Sacramento

The alarm rang at 6am and I dragged my feet out of bed and into the bathroom. At 7am, I was scheduled to meet with a group of 4 medical students and drive to Sacramento to lobby for SB840, a Senator Bill for Universal Health Care created by Senator Sheila Huehl that was introduced last year, but veto'd by the governor. This year, the bill would be re-introduced. I didn't know very much about the politics behind the bill but I believe that everyone should be entitled to health care access.

We arrived at the steps of the Capitol Building and I was excited because never have I been to the capitol before. We took the elevators up to the 4th floor, room 4203 and was greeted by a group of students from AMSA, the American Medical Student Association who planned the entire event. I stepped into the room and was amazed to see so many students from so many schools. Professional and non-professional students came from places as far as UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Davis, Touro University, Berkeley Business, Law, and Public Health Students. All convened in this one room to support a bill that would affect the future of the quality of health care. I was really touched and moved by the energy in the air. The speakers did an overview of SB 840 compared to Arnold's Proposal and underlined that SB 840 would be a more comprehensive bill than the governor's. Additionally we were trained on key points to address during our meetings with the Assembly. All this was super exciting because we, as pharmacy students would have a voice in legislation. The Assembly were willing to sit down and listen to us!

Following the training session was the rally in the front steps of Capitol Hills. Channel 11 was there among other local television stations. The vast group of white coats supporting universal health care was enough to draw nearby pedestrians to the scene. With our flying signs, we rang in unison "HEALTHCARE for ALL!! WE WANT IT NOW!" It was indeed empowering. Even more exciting, Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, former California State Insurance Commisioner, spoke of his support for SB 840 with his most memorable line, " I don't just have several problems with the insurance companies I have a HUGE problem with them".

Several points he brought up:
- insurance companies have a tendency to insure those who are healthy, who don't really need insurance while those who need it are uninsured or can't afford it
-conversely if healthy people are insured, services that they need like contraception are excluded in the basic plan and would cost 3x more to include contraception in the plan
-we already have a form of universal health in california that enables patients to go to any doctor, any time and it's called MediCal
-single payer health care is not "socialized medicine". Socialized medicine is when the government owns all the rights to provide services, but a single payer means that private hospitals will still provide the services while the government pays for it

Indeed a great experience. I missed several hours of classes today but it was well worth it!
Pictures to come!