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Medical Students Back at the Capitol En Masse in Support of Single Payer n California
By Mohammad Shahsahebi
Yesterday, nearly 300 medical students, health professionals and healthcare activists from across California converged on the State Capitol in support of Senator Sheila Kuehl's universal healthcare bill, Senate Bill 840. The 2nd Annual Lobby Day and Rally, organized by the California Alliance for Legislative Action on Universal HealthCare (CALA) and the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), was the largest demonstration for universal healthcare by future health professionals in the state’s history.
Participants rallied outside the Capitol Building and met with their legislators to push for quality, affordable healthcare for California’s working families. Though we commend the efforts of Governor Schwarzenegger, Senator Perata and Assemblyman Nuñez for making healthcare the key issue this legislative session, we support SB 840 because it is the only long-term solution to the healthcare crisis. No other model has been shown to expand coverage, contain costs and truly emphasize prevention. The time has passed for short-term fixes and half measures. California needs broad changes if it is sincerely devoted to fixing this problem.
As the future providers of California’s healthcare, we can never forget the 6.6 million Californians priced out of the current system. CALA believes healthcare is a right, not a privilege reserved for the wealthy. It is our obligation to advocate for our patients. This is what Lobby Day was about: hundreds of health professionals taking time away from their busy schedules to band together to demand change, to demand equality, and to demand a healthcare system actually devoted to healthcare.
But Lobby Day was more than just advocacy; it was also about medical training. If we are to influence the face of medicine, be it covering the uninsured or developing new public health programs, we must first learn how the system works. Lobby Day gave participants the opportunity to take an active role in the political process and learn how health policy decisions are made. As future health professionals, we will serve as leaders within the medical community, but also as leaders of our own communities. This event gave individuals the tools and inspiration become lifelong healthcare advocates.
Mohammad Shahsahebi is a student at UC Irvine School of Medicine.
Comments
This is very encouraging.
I would think that the people, perhaps through their state representatives, and the medical community (and pharmacologists and medical researchers?) should decide how to make health care work for themselves, leaving all the middle men and extraneous profit makers out of the discussion, and only into the system as "we" decide we need them.
Is that too "radical"?
Posted by: Celine Grenier at January 20, 2007 11:24 PM
People who want to help in the campaign for single payer health care in California should contact: www.healthcareforall.org. A similar federal campaign around John Conyers' HR 676 can be contacted through www.healthcare-now.org.
Posted by: Tom Condit at April 2, 2007 04:26 PM
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