Protesters Rally Against Health Insurers

The Bay Citizen (San Francisco)

More than 100 protesters from community and labor groups rallied outside the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco Thursday morning to call for the end of private health insurance and for "Medicare for all," while members of the America's Health Insurance Plans met at their national convention inside.

"There is no reason to have a health insurance industry. It only serves them. It doesn't serve the public," said Arthur Persyko, a volunteer with Single Payer Now, a San Francisco-based health care reform advocacy group. "They are there to make their bottom line happy. They deny care to people who need it. They are a useless, destructive part of our health care system. It's a crime, really."

State Sen. Mark Leno is sponsoring legislation, SB 810, that would establish a universal health care system in California. A similar bill passed the legislature in 2006 and again in 2008, but was vetoed both times by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Advocates say with a Democrat now in the governor's seat, this time could be different. But even if the bill does ultimately pass, it does not include funding for such a system.

"Separate legislation or a ballot measure would have to finance it," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a consumer advocacy group.