Orange County Healthcare For All!

To California Congressional Representative,

 As your constituent I am asking you to sign on, support, and do whatever else required to support the Healthcare for All Americans Act (HR676) so that all residents of California and the rest of the United States will be able to have minimal basic quality healthcare including preventative medicine, vaccines, screening tests when indicated, and treatments for chronic and life threatening conditions.

 We are ashamed that the number one cause of bankruptcy (54.5 % according to Health Affairs) is lack of insurance or adequate insurance.

 The cost of premiums is higher in California because 6.8 million Californians have no insurance (US Census) even though half of these people have someone in their household working full time and around 75% have someone working full or part time.

 Who pays for healthcare when there is no insurance?  According to Families USA June 2005, the uninsured pay about 1/3 of their bill with cash; while the remaining bill is 1/3 covered through government programs and 2/3 through higher premiums in our private insurance. By 2010 a California family's health insurance premiums will be 1,792 dollars higher due to the unpaid costs of healthcare for the uninsured.

 Perhaps most alarmingly, the disgrace of 45 million Americans without health insurance results in 18,000 unnecessary deaths a year according to the Institute of Medicine.

 We need to do better. We can do better. We are paying more than any other country per capita on healthcare spending, yet by every measure of premature death, disability, sickness, longevity, and infant mortality we are sinking more and more behind countries that have built national health plans usually revolving around a single government program.

 America needs HR676, a bill for universal and single payer insurance. Your support can make it happen.

 Sincerely,