Take action

Okay, this is kind of a cheat in terms of posting--but it's worth noting and taking action on:

From: Commission on the Status of Women <info@women.ca. gov>
Date: July 22, 2008 3:42:34 PM PDT
To: alert@women. ca.gov
Subject: HEALTH ACCESS ALERT: Call Today (NEW #s) to Prevent Health
Budget Cuts
Reply-To: "Alert ListServe" <alert@women. ca.gov>

>> Forwarded for your information by the California Commission on the
>> Status of Women:
>>
>>
>> HEALTH ACCESS ALERT
>> Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
>>
>>
>> CALL LEGISLATORS TODAY TO PREVENT HEALTH BUDGET CUTS
>> CALL TODAY: For Senators: 800-480-3958; For Assemblymembers:
>> 800-960-7682 (A previous Health Access Alert had a wrong #)
>> Urge Lawmakers to Support the Revenues Needed to Prevent
>> Devastating Cuts to Health Care and Other Vital Services;
>> Hanging in the Balance: Severe Cuts to Medi-Cal Eligibility,
>> Benefits,& Provider Rates Unless Loopholes Closed and Revenues
>> Raised;
>> Taxes Needed to Prevent Cuts, and Undo Other Cuts: Even Compromise
>> Budget Would Cut Children's Coverage: More Than a Quarter-Million
>> Kids to Lose Insurance
>> Click Here for What's New on the Health Access WeBlog: More on the
>> Budget Battle; New Television Ads on the Health Budget Cuts; Update
>> on Rescissions with Blue Cross and Blue Shield; SB840 Re-Emerges;
>> High-Risk Policies and MRMIP; Controlling Health Costs; California
>> Children Losing Coverage
>>
>>
>> ALERT: TODAY, Tuesday, July 22nd, health advocates and all
>> Californians are being urged to call their state legislators to
>> voice opposition to the health care budget cuts, and to get other
>> friends and colleagues to do the same.
>>
>> At stake are devastating health care budget cuts that would:
>> * leave one million more Californians uninsured--a majority of whom
>> are children;
>> * require 3.5 million Californians- -largely low-income parents,
>> seniors, and people with disabilities- -to pay more for health care,
>> or get less in terms of specific health care benefits;
>> * make deep and destabilizing cuts to the health care system we all
>> rely on, including 10% across-the-board cuts to the emergency
>> rooms, hospitals, clinics and doctors that we all, by age or
>> accident, will eventually use.
>> We need to close the loopholes and raise the revenues and taxes
>> needed to prevent these severe cuts to our health system.
>>
>> ACTION #1: CALL THE TOLL-FREE HOTLINE TODAY:
>> To Reach State Senators: 800-480-3958
>> To Reach Assemblymembers: 800-960-7682
>> (A previous alert had a wrong number listed.)
>> Call Both!
>> You will be connected to your state legislative office, and can
>> leave a message for your state Assemblymember or Senator.
>> You can tell them why it is crucial for the state budget to prevent
>> the worst of the cuts with revenues, and why it is so important to
>> you, your family, and your community.
>> You can urge them to raise additional revenues to undo the worst of
>> the cuts already approved, especially to children's coverage-where
>> a quarter-million children would be denied coverage as a result of
>> the cuts.
>> ACTION #2: FORWARD THIS ALERT WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION, MEMBERSHIPS
>> AND AT LEAST FIVE FRIENDS IN CALIFORNIA. We need as many
>> Californians as possible to register their opposition to these
>> severe budget cuts.
>>
>> BACKGROUND: The budget is already late, and we need our legislators
>> to take action NOW in order to protect our state's future! Votes
>> will be taken in the next few weeks.
>>
>> The compromise budget proposed by the Conference Committee did
>> reject--for now--many draconian cuts in health care, that would
>> have resulted in over one million more Californians not getting
>> health coverage as a result of the budget, and three and a half
>> million Californians having to pay more and/or get less in terms of
>> care and coverage.
>>
>> Because no cut or restoration is final until a budget is approved,
>> all cuts are still on the table until both parties in the
>> Legislature can agree on taxes. The Conference Committee budget
>> relies on over $9 billion in raised revenues in order to prevent
>> other cuts.
>>
>> REAL CUTS, ESPECIALLY TO CHILDREN'S COVERAGE: Yet even under this
>> Democrat-supported budget, health care, and in particular
>> children's coverage, gets hit hard. Even with the additional
>> revenues raised, more than a quarter-million children are expected
>> to lose coverage if this version of the budget is fully implemented.
>>
>> The cuts approved that would impact children's health coverage
>> include:
>> Imposing additional paperwork burdens so millions of children need
>> to have their families file reports every six months, rather than
>> annually, to keep their Medi-Cal coverage-- leading over 250,000
>> children to fall off coverage under full implementation by 2011.
>> For more info, read the 100% Campaign report on the impacts here.
>> Increasing premiums in the Healthy Families program, which not only
>> imposes additional costs on hundreds of thousands of families, but
>> likely leads tens of thousands of children to fall off coverage.
>> Suspending streamlining and enrollment reforms, which were passed
>> into law two years ago--SB437(Escutia) with fanfare in an attempt
>> to get tens of thousands of more children who are currently
>> eligible but unenrolled into the program.
>> Additional revenues would be needed to prevent these cuts.
>>
>> REVENUES PROPOSED AT THIS POINT:
>>
>> The compromise budget proposal from the Conference Committee
>> includes the following sources of revenue that will prevent the
>> harshest of the proposed cuts to vital services. The proposal will:
>>
>> · Restore corporate tax rates to the pre-1997 level ($470
>> million). The proposal also suspends for three years the option
>> for corporations to carry forward net operating losses and use as a
>> deduction in future years ($1.1 billion).
>> · Restore upper-income tax brackets to similar levels set
>> by Governor Wilson, impacting households earning above $321,000
>> ($5.6 billion). A dependent credit for households over $150,000
>> would also be rolled back ($215 million) and an adjustment to tax
>> tables will be suspended, meaning families over $97,000 would pay
>> about $180 more yearly ($815 million).
>> · Step up tax enforcement through an amnesty program for
>> money owed to the state, based on a previously successful program
>> ($1.5 billion).
>>
>> These revenues and other such options have been opposed by some
>> legislators, who favor either much steeper cuts to health care and
>> other vital services, or borrowing that would force cuts in future
>> years. That's why legislators need to hear about support against
>> these cuts and for the revenues that would replace them.
>>
>> AGAIN: CALL BOTH TOLL-FREE HOTLINES TODAY:
>> To Reach State Senators: 800-480-3958
>> To Reach Assemblymembers: 800-960-7682
>> (A previous Health Access alert had a wrong
>> number listed.)
>>
>> Health Access will continue to track budget developments as they
>> occur, including posting fact sheets and materials on our website,
>> at:
>> http://www.health- access.org/ index.htm

--
Commission on the Status of Women
1303 J St Ste 400
Sacramento CA 95814-2900
916-445-3173
916-322-9466 Fax
www.women.ca. gov