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The ads will launch Thursday, June 19, as thousands of people pour intothe streets of San Francisco outside the insurance convention, and in 19 othercities across the country, to protest the insurers and to advocate forguaranteed healthcare, such as HR 676 and SB 840, the federal and state billsfor an improved and expanded "Medicare for All."
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Delgadillo has won national acclaim for his efforts to rein in insuranceindustry abuses, including:
-- Suing insurer Anthem Blue Cross of California for fraudulent businesspractices and deceptive advertising in the course of illegally rescinding6,000 insurance policies
-- Suing insurer Health Net for engaging in unlawful and deceptivebusiness practices that lead to denial of care claims.
-- Winning passage of a first-of-its-kind local ordinance to crack down on"patient dumping" by hospitals
The ad was produced by the Courage Campaign and funded by the CaliforniaNurses Association and Sen. Sheila Kuehl. Titled "Insurance Jive," it featuresa nurse explaining to a family that their care is being denied by theirinsurer-and the deadly effect that will have.
This national protest targets the annual convention of America's HealthInsurance Plans (AHIP), the insurance industry lobbying group dedicated toblocking healthcare reform; former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN)and former Chair of the Democratic National Committee Terry McAuliffe arefeatured guests of the insurers. Patients and their families victimized byAHIP members will be on hand to tell their stories, and advocate for replacingprivate, for-profit insurance carriers with the kind of universal, non-profitcoverage common to most other industrialized democracies, a system known asguaranteed or single-payer healthcare.
The protests, the largest related to healthcare in many years, will beextensively covered at the new Guaranteed Healthcare Blog,http://www.GuaranteedHealthcare.org/blog , a project of the LeadershipCommittee on Guaranteed Healthcare.
Malinda Markowitz, RN, a co-President of the California NursesAssociation/National Nurses Organizing Committee, said, "we march for thosewho can't -- for those who have been denied care by the insurance companies,or bankrupted by their practices. The American people are ready forguaranteed healthcare through an improved 'Medicare for All,' and it is timeto pass Rep. John Conyers' HR 676 on the federal level and State SenatorSheila Kuehl's SB 840 in California in order to finally end our healthcarecrisis."
The Leadership Committee on Guaranteed Healthcare is composed ofCalifornia Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC),Physicians for a National Health Program, Healthcare Now!, and ProgressiveDemocrats of America, working in coalition with the California SchoolEmployees Association, the American Medical Students Association, theCalifornia Universal Healthcare Organizing Project, the Courage Campaign,United Educators San Francisco, the California Alliance of Retired Americans,American Patients United and Senior Action Network.WHAT: L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, Patients Unveil Ad Campaign Targeting Insurers WHEN: Wednesday, June 18, 2:30 pm WHERE: Outside Moscone West, 4th & Howard Streets, San Francisco, California
SOURCE California Nurses Association
