By GEORGE B. SÃNCHEZ
Herald Salinas Bureau
The Salinas City Council this week endorsed a state Senate bill to provide universal health care for California residents.
The council voted 6-0 to support the California Health Insurance Reliability Act, which calls for the creation of a state health insurance agency that would be overseen by an elected commissioner. Councilwoman Janet Barnes abstained from the vote.
If the bill is enacted, the commissioner would be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
The resolution of support was brought to the council by the Salinas Action League, a local activist group, and introduced by Councilman Sergio Sanchez.
“One in five people in California do not have health insurance,” said Salinas Action League member Dr. Carolee Bull. “In a few years, it will be one in four.”
Bull said federal, state and local money already spent on health care, along with low premium rates by employees and employers, would go into a state fund proposed by Sheila James Kuehl, D-Los Angeles.
The cities of Berkeley, Santa Cruz and Watsonville, as well as Alameda, Marin and Los Angeles counties, have also passed resolutions in support of the bill.
“We need universal health care in this county,” said Councilwoman Gloria de la Rosa.
“Health care is like housing,” said Councilman Maria Giuriato, a social services worker. “It’s the foundation and infrastructure to leverage health and hold a good job.”
Giuriato asked the Salinas Action League to seek support for the bill from the Monterey County Board of Supervisors as well as other cities in Monterey County.
Carole Erickson, director of Student Health Services at Monterey Peninsula College, told the board about a Salinas student who had to be hospitalized for scabies, a skin-burrowing mite. If the student had access to preventive health care, Erickson said, the infection could have been properly diagnosed and treated.
Access to preventive health care is more cost effective than hospitalization, she said.
“If it’s cheaper to treat up front, then what are we doing?” said Erickson.
Jeff Richman, a school nurse who works in Salinas and the Pajaro Valley, said it is common to find students who need vision, dental and mental health care but have no access to a doctor other than the school nurse.
The proposed bill, he said, would help them.
George B. Sánchez can be reached at 753-6771 or gesánchez@montereyherald.com.