Hi {{ FirstName | default: “Friend” }},

The unjustified, cruel killings of Keith Porter Jr in Los Angeles and Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by ICE leave us heartbroken. Congress and Trump’s administration have shown funding ICE and giving money to billionaires is more important than our health. A partial government shutdown seems imminent as Democrats try to limit funding for ICE.

The expiration of enhanced federal subsidies, along with insurance companies increasing their prices, means many Californians will pay more for Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage, known as Covered California. On January 26th, 31,000 Kaiser nurses and health care workers in California and Hawaii went on strike, demanding increased wages and staffing ratios. 

In California we have an answer to the profit-driven business of health care. CalCare, a bill to be reintroduced in our State Assembly by February 20th will provide residents of our state with comprehensive, universal, guaranteed health care that is free at the point of service. 

Tell Congress: Stop Funding ICE 

We can’t wait while ICE harms more people. Congress MUST demand an end to these reckless immigration raids, and oppose any bill that would add to ICE’s already massive budget – including the most recent appropriations bill.

Tell Elected Officials: We Demand a Health Society

As part of their Red Alert Tour, NNU has a petition to let elected officials know we’re holding them accountable for protecting the people’s health, not billionaires’ wealth!

ERIKA FERESTEN & SANDY REDING

CRUSH ICE !

MICHELLE VERNE & HC4US

DANCING WITH LOS JORNALEROS DEL NORTE

The National Nurses United Red Alert Tour started on January 24th at Glendale Memorial Hospital and HC4US was there! We educated the public about the upcoming CalCare bill and how CalCare will protect hospital units and hospitals from closure by providing a simplified health care payment system and global budgets. Glendale Memorial and USC Verdugo Hills Hospitals are at risk of cuts and/or closure, read the explanation and negative effects HERE. USC Verdugo Hills Hospital’s maternity ward closed in 2024.  

Besides the theme of not closing hospitals and hospital units, speakers railed against ICE presence and ICE enforcement activities in health care settings. Last July, ICE took a patient from Glendale Memorial Hospital into custody against the medical advice of the patient’s physician.

The Red Alert tour will stop in communities throughout the country to bring awareness about the risk of local hospitals closing with 3 more stops in California. 

Where do women in labor go if their local hospital no longer has a maternity ward? In The Guardian, Mallika Seshadri explains that they go to the emergency room. 

In Los Angeles County, reporters Kristen Hwang, Ana B. Ibarra and Erica Yee explained in CalMatters that 17 maternity wards closed between 2013 to 2023. For-profit multi-state corporations owned 13 out of 17 hospitals that closed their maternity wards, despite half of them making millions for investors at the time of the closures. This left some of LA County’s poorest patients without access. Non-profit hospitals like Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles are mandated to address community needs and have kept their award-winning midwife-led labor and delivery department open. 

Los Angeles county’s severe maternal morbidity rate has steadily increased in recent years. Black women are especially vulnerable since they are roughly three times as likely to die from pregnancy related complications. 

The situation could worsen as federal funding cuts strain hospital budgets and some patients avoid routine medical care due to fear of detainment by ICE. 

CalCare is the remedy for keeping maternity wards open and preventing Black women from dying of complications related to pregnancy. CalCare removes the profit motive and establishes an Office of Health Equity.

In the HEALTH CARE un-covered Substack, Wendell Potter forecasts a financial not-so-slow-motion train wreck of one or more big insurance companies and explains multiple negative repercussions for consumers. For example UnitedHealth’s stock has decreased by more than half in the last 14 months. To increase profits and appeal positively to investors, UnitedHealth might increase the cost of premiums, increase denials, shrink benefits and increase drug prices.  

With CalCare, there’s no premiums or co-pays and doctors and patients decide what procedures are needed, not insurance companies who deny care. Benefits are comprehensive and drug prices will be lower because the state will have bargaining power.

LA healthcare workers, hospital and clinic staff, and healers – Join the People’s Care Collective for our first general assembly Sunday, February 1st at 3pm! We’re gathering to connect over the crises of care for our Los Angeles communities, discuss visions for the collective and how we can put health at the service of our movements, and share upcoming events and opportunities.

There will also be training on best practices when encountering immigration enforcement in healthcare settings and caring for patients detained by ICE.

California United for Single Payer (C.U.S.P.) presents the Health Care Day of Action on Friday, March 20th at the capitol in Sacramento. We’ll demand that legislators pass CalCare, hear keynote and organization speakers as well as Health Care Horror Stories. Also medical mutual aid, videos, music/dance breaks and an open mic.

C.U.S.P. is an alliance of 11 organizations including HC4US, Feel the Bern San Fernando Valley, PNHP Santa Barbara, Fanny Lou Hamer Institute, Hollywood for CalCare, Our Revolution, Educators for Single Payer, Idea Alliance, San Gabriel Valley Progressives, Jewish and Allied Educators for Palestine and the San Joaquin Valley Democratic Club. 

To allow the C.U.S.P. team to accurately assess the number of attendees and guide organizing operations on the Day of Action, please RSVP. 

ORGANIZE. AGITATE. EDUCATE. LEGISLATE.

THANK YOU!