Silicon Valley Community Leaders Launch National Faith-Based Campaign

May 27, 2009

MEDIA ALERT                                                     Contacts: Leticia Martinez, 408-234-5966 (Spanish/English)                
            FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                Bruce Preville, 408-674-0503

May 27, 2009                                                                        Marie Moore, 408-230-5239                                                    

SAN JOSE, CA                                                                     Akemi Flynn, 408-504-8030

** Call for advance interviews with affected community members.

See stories below of how the health care system is failing local families. **

                                                      MEDIA ALERT

 With California’s Budget Crisis,
Californians Needs National Health Care Reform

Silicon Valley Community Leaders
Launch National Faith-Based Campaign

Urging Congress Members Zoe Lofgren and Mike Honda

to be Champions for Affordable, Accessible,

Quality Health Care for ALL Families

Release of California Results from National Survey
on Health Care Affordability

WHO & WHAT:  Congress Members Zoe Lofgren and Mike Honda will meet with faith and grassroots community leaders from the PICO National Network and PACT, the local PICO organization in Santa Clara County.

PACT and PICO will:

Ø    Present California results from a new national survey on health care costs for families that finds California families – including many middle-class families with health insurance – are not getting the care they need due to high costs.

Ø  Give testimony from community members about the growing “affordability gap” for the state’s moderate- and middle-income families and the urgent need for health reform this year.

Ø    Ask Congress Members Lofgren and Honda to champion affordability for all families as the defining factor in the health care reform and to use their leadership to rally support among their Congressional colleagues to enact affordable, quality and accessible health care reform legislation this year.

WHEN:    Wednesday, May 27, 7:30-9:00 pm
WHERE:  Congregation Shir Hadash, 20 Cherry Blossom Lane, Los Gatos 95032

WHY:  Every day, more Californians are losing health coverage due to the state’s budget crisis, skyrocketing unemployment, and increasing costs of insurance:

§  Children are being bumped off state health programs as the budget is cut again and again.

§  Entire families are losing employer-based coverage with growing numbers of lay offs.

§  Families cannot afford to maintain private health coverage as fees rise and their income becomes more insecure – many Silicon Valley professionals have gone from salaried employment with benefits to sporadic contract work, at best.

Now more than ever, Californians need national health care reform.

§  More than one out of three people (37.4 percent) in California went without health insurance for all or part of 2007-2008.

§  Between January 2008 and January 2009, it is estimated that 637,300 California workers and their families joined the ranks of uninsured because of the state’s 4 percent increase in unemployment.  Unemployment and the numbers of uninsured continue to increase.

§  Budget policy proposals by Governor Schwarzenegger could result in an additional 2 million Californians becoming uninsured, including 1.5 million children, 433,600 low-income parents and 73,364 seniors and disabled people.

At the same time, Congress and the Obama Administration have made it clear that they want to pass comprehensive health reform legislation this year. Across the country, Americans overwhelmingly support health care reform that would bring down their health care costs.  Polls overwhelmingly show voters continue to focus on affordability as their top health care concern.

The number one reason millions of Americans lack health insurance is they cannot afford coverage.  For reform to succeed – from both a policy and political perspective – it must make health care more affordable and secure for families.  If an individual mandate is part of a national reform proposal, as many experts believe is necessary, setting a strong affordability standard becomes even more important. 

Families are willing to take responsibility and pay for a portion of their health care costs, but it is unrealistic and unfair to expect struggling families to pay without regard to what they can actually afford. 

More than ever, America needs Congress and the Administration to focus health care reform efforts on making health care affordable for all families.  We need our Congressional representatives to make sure health care is affordable for families in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area, where the high cost of living continues, despite the local and global economic recession. 

PACT is joining with PICO congregations across the country, as well as national religious groups, in launching a media and grassroots faith campaign to build broad support in Congress for a strong “Affordability Standard” for families.  The national campaign includes hundreds of events in congregations across the country, public meetings with Senators and Representatives, and other local and national lobbying efforts - all focused on the goal of enacting reform that makes quality health care choices affordable for all families.

How the current health care system fails middle class Americans – the story of a Silicon Valley man and his family: 

 I am 54-years-old, with steady employment and group healthcare coverage for my family since 1976. .  Now, I have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and I am faced with going out on disability.  Cobra will cover us for the next three years. After that, I could go on Medicare due to my disability and my kids will either be working and have insurance or hopefully be healthy enough to get individual policies.  But my wife, who is not employed, will be 59 years old, and it seems that she will not be able to get individual coverage. 

 She recently applied for individual insurance with the provider I’ve had for the last 10 years: Blue Cross as well as Blue Shield. She was declined for any coverage because she has hyperthyroid and high blood pressure.  Obviously, in today's society, that is quite common, and you simply take a pill every morning. 

 In our current system, private insurance companies can simply refuse to cover people in such instances, for any premium.  I can understand higher premiums, but not total refusal to cover her.  This is a major problem - she may be uninsured at age 59 if I go on disability because of my MS today.  The government must do something to correct this problem.  I now understand why there are millions of Americans who are uninsured. 

Our current health care system forces too many to play Russian Roulette, hoping they won’t need health care:

A mother and her children – My daughter-in-law has Graves disease, she’s self-employed. Her union insurance doesn’t provide well care for her children and she has a $5,000 deductible on major medical.  It was the only amount at which the policy became even marginally affordable.

 A 20 something man – My son had a stroke at 8-years-old.  He had an excellent recovery with only small visual loss.  He played football in high school.  When he was 24, I tried to get individual insurance for him. I was told his preexisting condition would not disqualify him but we received a rejection within a week and they even kept the application fee.   He’s been laid off 3 times in the past 5 years. He’s back in college and covered by only what the student health center provides.

 A single mom, self-employed - I’ve been cancer-free for nearly 20 years yet I have been turned down for health insurance.   I am a self-employed, part-time teacher.  The few times I had to go to the doctor it cost me $75 - $100 for something as mundane as a sinus infection.  I haven’t had a physical in years, because, as a single parent, I can’t afford it.

 Two retired lawyers – We saved so we could retire early. I retired from law in 1992 and became a school librarian. My husband retired from law in 2001 at the age of 52.  In 2007, at age 60, I retired for good.  I’m in excellent health but private health insurers considered me uninsurable because of minor pre-existing health conditions: high cholesterol controlled by medication and mild sleep apnea. We don’t have it so bad but I’m scared and mad. I’m scared I’ll get seriously ill or in an accident during the 12-month period after COBRA expires and we’ll lose everything.  I’m mad, because we did all the right things: worked hard, saved, didnt go into debt.  Out of control health, banking and investment systems derailed our American dream. It’s time for a major change.

No one should live in fear for their health as these San Joseans do:

28-years-old, College-degreed, uninsured – No person should live in fear for their health as I do.  I was born with asthma.  I had health insurance until age 23, and now at 28 all my major bills are health care related, with some in collections.  I am college educated, and I’m looking for a full-time job with benefits, but we all know how hard that is right now.  I asked for an eye exam and glasses last Christmas.  Gifts of health care…that’s my reality.  I can’t go on much longer like this.

Twenty-something uninsured, college student  -- I have not had medical insurance since turning 23.  Last year, I had to see some specialists and my family covered the expenses in excess of $5,000 even though they do not have a lot of money. If I needed them to support me again, it could put an even more unfair and crippling financial strain on them. In numerous work experiences, I have been laid off when coming close to receiving health insurance. It is less expensive for a business to hire someone new give health insurance to an employee that is about to qualify for benefits. I am studying full time now and I am uncertain as to what my health care situation will be when I obtain my degree. It is scary to think that not all jobs give you the privilege of health care, even if you have a degree. If I decide to work freelance, my health care options will be too expensive to consider them.

Event Organized by:

v PACT: People Acting in Community Together is a multi-ethnic, interfaith organization that empowers people to create a more just community.  PACT represents 21 congregations and 50,000 people in Santa Clara County, and is part of the PICO National Network.  www.pactsj.org

v PICO National Network has fifty-two affiliated federations working in 150 cities and towns and seventeen states. More than one million families and one thousand congregations from forty different denominations and faiths participate in PICO. www.piconetwork.org