Michael Moore is waiting to hear from you.

In homes across America, people are gathering on November 14 to push the debate of health care for America one step further. Every four years, politicians talk about the millions in America without insurance and the need to change the system. And every four years, nothing happens. This time it can't be all talk.

We have the power to build the Health Care for America campaign into a grassroots movement the politicians can't ignore. On November 14, we'll take one step forward, by sitting down with our friends and neighbors to watch SiCKO and then take action.

From your house party, you'll be able to call in to hear Michael Moore and Jim Dean speak about what our community will do next in the Health Care for America campaign, and how you can be a part of the action.

So far there are 4 house parties next Wed. that are linked to Sacramento for Democracy. Please take a moment to RSVP to one of these parties so the hosts can plan for the event.

SiCKO House Party in East Sac
http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=25121

SiCKO House Party in Carmichael
http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=24733

SiCKO House Party in Roseville
http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=25119

SiCKO House Party in Rocklin
http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=24730

Time: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 - 6:00pm PST

Health insurer tied bonuses to dropping sick policyholders

By Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 9, 2007

One of the state's largest health insurers set goals and paid bonuses based in part on how many individual policyholders were dropped and how much money was saved.

Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. avoided paying $35.5 million in medical expenses by rescinding about 1,600 policies between 2000 and 2006. During that period, it paid its senior analyst in charge of cancellations more than $20,000 in bonuses based in part on her meeting or exceeding annual targets for revoking policies, documents disclosed Thursday showed.

The revelation that the health plan had cancellation goals and bonuses comes amid a storm of controversy over the industry-wide but long-hidden practice of rescinding coverage after expensive medical treatments have been authorized.

"SiCKO" -- a FREE screening of Michael Moore's "SiCKO" this Friday night, November 9th at Sac State's Friday Night Film Series. We look forward to seeing you all! As always, the popcorn and soft drinks are on the house. Please help spread the word... and bring a friend.

Friday, November 9th
Previews 6:30, Feature at 7pm
Hinde Auditorium
Sacramento State University Union
Time: Friday, November 9, 2007 - 6:30pm PST

Mothers begin hunger strike to push for children’s health care

DENVER – Three women who appeared in Michael Moore’s film “SiCKO” began a hunger strike for health care at midnight on November 1 because Congress has yet to pass acceptable State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) legislation and it has not been signed by President Bush.

Last week, Congress failed to override the President’s veto of expanded SCHIP legislation, even though national polls show that a wide majority of American supported the measure and would even pay more taxes to support expanded SCHIP. And just this week, Congress passed another SCHIP bill that the President promises he will veto yet again.

Donna Smith of Colorado, Reggie Cervantes of Oklahoma and Adrian Campbell of Michigan all had their stories featured on the big screen in “SiCKO” this summer, and they all continue to fight for health care reform in spite of their own personal struggles to access and afford health care for themselves and their families.

Looks like it's time to hit the phones again. We should be ok with Matsui & Thompson (but you can still call them to let them know how you feel about this issue). It's the usual Doolittle, Lungren & Herger phone calls that need to be made.

Vote YES on SCHIP

District 2 - Rep. Wally Herger, R-Marysville (202) 225-3076
District 3 - Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River (202) 225-5716
District 4 - Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville (202) 225-2511

As always, other contact info can be found here:
http://sacramentofordemocracy.org/?q=node/view/3130

Thanks,
Bill

“Tomorrow (Thursday), we will be taking up the SCHIP bill. The legislation will provide health care for 10 million of America’s children. It’s another historic opportunity for this Congress to declare itself ‘the children’s Congress.’

The Republicans are worried that we can't pay to insure an additional 10 million children, they sure don't care about finding $200 billion dollars to fight the illegal war in Iraq. Where you going to get that money? You going to tell us lies, like you're telling us today? Is that how you're going to fund the war? You don't have money to fund the war or children, but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people ... if we can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President's amusement.

Please call Lungren, Doolittle and Herger and ask them to override Bush's veto of SCHIP (HR 976). Please read the editorial below to find out how many children in our area are affected by the SCHIP program.
--Bill

SCHIP by the numbers - and key ones to call
Here is what's at stake for region's kids as vote nears on overriding Bush's veto
-
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, October 15, 2007

California has a huge stake in the outcome of a Thursday vote in the House of Representatives.

That's the day that the House will attempt to override President Bush's veto of a bill (HR976) that would continue and expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program. That successful program already provides coverage for 6.6 million children in working families who cannot afford health insurance on their own -- and this bill would add 4 million more.

California has the largest program in the nation (called Healthy Families), covering more than 800,000 kids, plus 8,400 pregnant women.

To see just how important this program is to our region, The Bee asked Peter Harbage, a consultant for the California Healthcare Foundation, to crunch some numbers.

Vigil to Save Children's Health Care

To check for the latest listing of events click this link:
Attend a vigil in your hometown for the millions of kids denied healthcare by the President

Please come! We must stand up for our children. If WE do not stand up for them, we've failed them. We would have lost our souls!

The event details are:

Money for War, Not for Children Health Care: Shame!!
Park Drive & Sunset Avenue in Rocklin
Park Drive and Sunset Blvd
Rocklin, CA 95765
Tuesday, 16 Oct 2007, 5:00 PM

To sign up for this event, click here:
http://political.moveon.org/event/kidshealthvigil/41560

There is also one in Sacramento:

Can you attend a local Vigil to Save Children's Health Care in Sacramento this Tuesday at 6:00 PM? Here are the details and a link to RSVP:

WHAT: Vigil to Save Children's Health Care in Sacramento
WHERE: Southwest corner of Southside Park
WHEN: Tuesday, Oct 16 2007, 6:00 PM
RSVP—Click here:
http://political.moveon.org/event/kidshealthvigil/?event_id=41351&id=11394-4304237-HBypNx&t=3
Time: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 - 6:00pm PST

Why the US Lacks Full Health Care
By Peter Phillips and Bridget Thornton

A new research study completed at Sonoma State university shows how health and disability insurance companies are systematically cheating the American public.
http://www.projectcensored.org/HCDI_1007.pdf

Michael Moore’s top-grossing movie Sicko is one example of the growing concern surrounding health care in the US. The number of Americans without health insurance reached forty-seven million at last count, or sixteen percent of the population. The cost of health insurance is rising two to three times faster than inflation and is the number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the country. We pay more and get less medical care than the rest of the industrialized world. The total per capita health care cost in the US exceeds the health care expense per person in all other full care countries.

The Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as eighteen thousand Americans die prematurely each year because they do not have health insurance. This figure does not include those who die prematurely each year because their insurers delay, diminish, or deny payment for promised benefits. Reports about people who die unnecessarily from services denied or delayed by insurance companies seldom receive broad coverage in the corporate media. Lack of media coverage has led to a nation of people uninformed about how national health and disability policies are controlled by the private insurance industry and how government regulators are powerless to do anything about it.

.

The first is on SCHIP and the second is on the hi-jacking of the California healthcare plans by the insurance industry

Send a message to Congress about SCHIP here, or here

Send a free fax to your legislators about California healthcare here

Can this guy (Dubya) be more out of touch with reality? He wants an additional $190 Billion for a year in Iraq, but he won't give $7 Billion a year for children's health care? Like that guy in SiCKO said (I'm paraphrasing), "We can find money to kill people, but not to help people". I'm disgusted, yet again.

Child Health Veto Will Be Election Issue
By David Espo | The Associated Press | Wednesday 03 October 2007

Washington - President Bush cast a quiet veto Wednesday against a politically attractive expansion of children's health insurance, triggering a struggle with the Democratic-controlled Congress certain to reverberate into the 2008 elections.

"Congress will fight hard to override President Bush's heartless veto," vowed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Republican leaders expressed confidence they have enough votes to make the veto stick in the House, and not a single senior Democrat disputed them. A two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress is required to override a veto.

Bush vetoed the bill in private, absent the television cameras and other media coverage that normally attend even routine presidential actions. The measure called for adding an estimated four million mostly lower-income children to a program that currently covers 6.6 million. Funds for the expansion would come from higher tobacco taxes, including a 61-cent increase on a pack of cigarettes.

Health Care for All Sacramento Valley Chapter Meeting

JOIN US -----------------
HEALTH CARE FOR ALL - SACRAMENTO VALLEY
SATURDAY, October 6, 2007
10:00 AM TO 11:30 AM
Hart Senior Center, 915 27th St., Sacramento, CA 95814
AGENDA
Time: Saturday, October 6, 2007 - 11:00am PST

"Two years ago, my health insurance saved my life when I needed heart surgery.

Now many of us are at risk of losing health insurance because the Holiday Inn is proposing to double the number of hours we have to work to be covered. That could mean no insurance for many workers, especially in the restaurant and banquets.

They've even proposing to take away Labor Day as a paid holiday. We work hard, and we deserve better."

RALLY FOR A FAIR CONTRACT!
Wednesday, October 10, 4 PM
Holiday Inn Capitol Plaza, 300 J St.

Questions/ RSVPs: jeidelson@unitehere.org, (916) 494-1726
Time: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 - 5:00pm PST

UAW, GM tentatively OK new contract

By TOM KRISHER and DEE-ANN DURBIN, AP Auto Writers1 hour, 49 minutes ago

The United Auto Workers and General Motors Corp. tentatively agreed Wednesday to a contract that ends a two-day strike — the first nationwide walkout against the automaker in 37 years — and puts responsibility for retirees' health care into the union's hands.

Union members were told to begin reporting to work Wednesday. UAW officials said they hoped to begin talks with Ford and Chrysler even before GM workers vote on ratifying the pact.

News of the settlement sent GM shares more than 4 percent higher in morning trading Wednesday as Wall Street interpreted the deal as a win for the automaker.

GM and the UAW confirmed that the deal creates a GM-funded, UAW-run trust to administer retiree health care. The two sides gave no other details, but two people briefed on the contract told The Associated Press that it also would give workers bonuses and lump-sum payments and would pay some newly hired workers at lower rates.

Toll-free numbers to the switchboard (via katymine):

1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 459 - 1887
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437

Christy @ FDL:

SCHIP is also up for a vote TODAY, and there are several legislators that need a big nudge toward doing the right thing for children in America. Here’s the bottom line: the amount of money we would spend for 6 weeks in Iraq, could cover 10 million children in America for five whole years.

Having worked with at risk children in abuse and neglect cases, I can tell you first hand how important early intervention health care can be for these kids. This is especially true for children with developmental and other medical delays and with chronic medical conditions, where early and appropriate health care can remediate and often help to somewhat correct issues that would cost taxpayers a lot more down the road in educational services and chronic medical care.

Stem Cell video [click]

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Lung-Cancer Blood Test

A pharmaceutical company is developing a highly sensitive test that could catch the deadly disease in its early stages.

By Katherine Bourzac

Lung cancer kills more Americans than any other cancer. Doctors know that smokers and former smokers are at much greater risk than the rest of the population, yet there's no safe way to screen them, and lung tumors are rarely discovered in early, more curable stages.

Now researchers at a Gaithersburg, MD, pharmaceutical company say they have found that 99 percent of patients with all stages of lung cancer have detectable levels of a particular protein in their blood that healthy individuals do not. The company, Panacea Pharmaceuticals, is reporting encouraging preliminary results for its test for the protein this week at a conference of the American Association for Cancer Research. The company is working toward federal approval to market the test for high-risk patients.

"Lung cancer is the only major cancer with no approved screening procedure," points out David Carbone, director of Vanderbilt University's Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center's research program in lung cancer. Smokers and former smokers have a ten- to fiftyfold greater risk of developing lung cancer. But "there's no way to detect [lung cancer] before they're coughing up blood and suffering shoulder pain," signs of advanced cancer, says Carbone.

State issues warning on lunch boxes

The promotional items handed out by health officials may contain elevated levels of lead.

By Tami Abdollah, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
12:46 PM PDT, September 20, 2007

More than 50,000 lunch boxes given out by the state as part of its nutrition education effort may contain elevated levels of lead and the public should stop using them, officials said today.

The California Department of Public Health said testing found increased lead levels in three lunch boxes, which were made in China. They are green canvas and bear a logo that says, "Eat fruits & vegetables and be active." Officials urged the public to stop using the roughly 56,000 such boxes that have been handed out at health fairs and other events.

"Screening of 'In Lies We Trust'"
World Premiere – First Screening! IN LIES WE TRUST: The CIA, Hollywood and Bioterrorism

Crest Theatre - 1013 K St., Sacramento - Downtown
When: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. film showing
Post-screening discussion with author/producer Dr. Horowitz to immediately follow.
Cost: All seats $10 at the door only

In this just released documentary, Dr. Horowitz brilliantly responds to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services' and Homeland Security’s new feature documentary, The History of Bioterrorism, now broadcasting several times daily over the Dish Network. What Dr. Horowitz calls 'menacing propaganda,' and 'reckless irresponsibility,' is the film’s so-called history of America's involvement in the biological weapons race and conclusions of impending doom. In Lies We Trust details Dr. Horowitz’ piece-by-piece challenge to the misleading contentions and historical inaccuracies presented in this film. In Lies We Trust should be seen by everyone to better understand the revolving doors between government, industry, and academia, prior to consenting to forced vaccinations, injections and mass quarantines.
Time: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 - 7:30pm PST

This Thursday at 9:00 am, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
will vote on a motion to cut all medical services to undocumented
persons! Supposedly, the money saved by this action will be given to the
police!

We need people to show up at the meeting and speak out against this
outrage!

The supervisors' meetings are in the chambers at 8th and H streets in
downtown Sacramento. You can park on the street and pay the meters, or
park at the county parking lot for $1.25 every half hour. The entrance
to the county lot is on G Street. If you're coming from the south area,
go north on 8th to G.
Time: Thursday, September 13, 2007 - 10:00am PST

End of Life Care
Invitation to an Important Briefing and Discussion
Thursday, October 4, 2007
CA State Capitol Room 112 (It's back in room 112 again)
10:30 – 12:00pm

Please join the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) on Thursday, October 4 for a briefing on End of Life Care.

Kate O'Malley from the California HealthCare Foundation along with Judy Citko, JD the executive director for the California Coalition for Compassionate Care will be presenting an overview of the issues and various approaches relating to End of Life Care.

Some of the questions that will be covered are related to death and dying in California:
Time: Thursday, October 4, 2007 - 11:30am PST