(Oakland, CA) – Today, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) convened a community forum on health care reform with some of California’s most influential political leaders including Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, Senate President pro Tem Don Perata, Assembly Health Committee Mervyn M. Dymally, Assemblymembers Sandré Swanson, Mary Hayashi and Mark DeSaulnier, and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums.  The event was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 17 at the Oakland City Hall Council Chambers, located at 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza.

Everyone agrees that California’s health care system is in crisis.  Health care costs are sky rocketing and over 6.5 million California residents are without health insurance.  Assemblywoman Hancock convened the meeting of the key legislative decision makers, so they could hear first hand from the public what they want considered in the health care reform debate.  This forum provided a framework for understanding the current debate about health care reform in the Legislature.  Speakers included Dr. Mark Smith, President and CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation, and Ellen Wu, Executive Director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network.  Local health care providers and community members were invited to offer their input on this critical matter. 

“As a legislator from the East Bay, I have seen the need for significant reform first hand.  The temporary closure of emergency room services at Doctors Hospital in San Pablo late last year was just the latest signal that our health care system is in crisis and attention needs to be placed on reforming and improving health care delivery,” said Hancock.  

“Reforming the health care system would eliminate the need for costly emergency care for California’s 6.5 million uninsured. Many cannot go to a doctor’s office for basic treatment and often seek treatment in hospital emergency rooms, where they cannot be turned away.  As a member of the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services for the last four years, I have seen piecemeal efforts to address the problems but none have resulted in significant change.  However, this year seems promising, as my colleagues, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D- Los Angeles), have announced proposals to fix our broken health care system.  I hope 2007 is the year we bring true health care reform to California,” concluded Hancock.