More than $250 billion is spent on healthcare every year in California – that’s nearly $1 out of every $7 spent in the state – and chronic conditions account for nearly 75 percent of the total. Additionally, healthcare is a significant economic driver, employing more than one million people in California.

We have the unique opportunity to change the delivery of healthcare in our state and improve the lives of Californians now and for generations to come. Working together we can slow the rates of chronic disease, protect both household budgets and the state budget, and we can improve the health of society as a whole so Californians lead longer, more productive lives.

Healthcare workers in SEIU-UHW are joining with key officials, healthcare providers, leading nonprofits, businesses and others to improve healthcare. Healthcare workers live and breathe these problems every day – in hospitals and clinics, in clients’ homes and in nursing homes – and we are joining with others to tackle one of the biggest problems facing California today.

Learn more about some of our projects:

SEIU-UHW Members at Kaiser Roseville are stepping up for good health and a great contract.

As healthcare workers, we have a better idea. We are going to take responsibility for improving our own health as well as be the ambassadors of good health in our communities. We will improve the quality of life of Californians and reduce costs.

In return, we are calling on Kaiser to deliver on our bargaining priorities:

• Protect our Healthcare
• Protect our Pension
• Improve our Job security
• Raises

On Thursday, March 1, Kaiser members all over the state will be taking their lunch breaks to get out, get healthy and take the first steps toward healthier workplaces and a healthy California. Walks are happening at Kaiser facilities all over California.

Will you join us? Click here to sign up and let us know that you’re planning on coming.

Hospital Notice of Election – English

Hospital Nomination Form – English

Nomination Petition – English

Kaiser Notice of Election – English

Kaiser Nomination form – English

Kaiser Nomination Petition – English

Home Care Notice of Election – English

Home Care Nomination Form – English

Home Care Nominee Petition – English

Spanish

Home Care Notice of Election-Spanish

Home Care Nomination Form – Spanish

Home Care Nominee Petition – Spanish

Russian

Home Care Notice of Election-Russian

Home Care Nomination Form – Russian

Home Care Nominee Petition – Russian

Hmong

Home Care Notice of Election-Hmong

Home Care Nomination Form – Hmong

Home Care Nominee Petition – Hmong

Chinese

Home Care Notice of Election-Chinese

Home Care Nomination Form – Chinese

Home Care Nominee Petition – Chinese

Dave Regan

In 2011 Regan was elected president alongside more than 300 union members to form the largest, democratically-elected union executive board. The newly elected board is focused on improving healthcare in California including reducing the prevalence of manageable and preventable chronic diseases, like heart disease, asthma, obesity and diabetes, that drive healthcare costs and lead to poor quality of life in California. To that end the board launched “Let’s Get Healthy California” in 2011. Under this banner, healthcare workers will negotiate contracts, introduce legislation and work with partner organizations with the goal of improving the quality of healthcare, lowering healthcare costs and improving healthcare jobs.

Centinela Hospital caregiver Rodney Poole kicks off SEIU-UHW

Would you pay $21 for a single dose of Advil? If you’ve ever been a patient at Centinela Hospital you may have done so already.

Hospital owners like Prime Healthcare, which owns Centinela Hospital, are price gouging consumers. They charge $151 for a small bottle of eye drops, $127 for a tube of lotion, and $50 for a bar of soap, just to name a few of their outrageous mark-ups. Now we know why hospital bills are so high–and today SEIU-UHW members in Southern California started doing something about it.

Martha Alvarez of Centinela Hospital signs the initiative to stop hospital owners from price gouging.

Over one hundred SEIU-UHW members and supporters were out in front of Centinela Hospital today for the Southern California kickoff of our signature gathering drive to get initiatives on the November ballot to end hospital price gouging and to expand charity care for the needy. With mock Prime ads and Prime-priced medical items on display, we made our point that hospitals need to stop ripping off consumers and patients with ridiculously inflated costs. Then we hit the streets around Centinela Hospital and gathered signatures to lower healthcare costs by putting an end to these bad practices.

As one Centinela caregiver put it, “the common person needs to be able to afford healthcare–that’s why we’re here.”

Sign on to support the initiatives today. Let’s build a healthy California by making care affordable and accessible for everyone!

Learn more about the initiatives at our website www.yesforahealthycalifornia.org

Check out shots of all the action:

At El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, workers launched a signature gathering effort for an initiative that would put a cap on executive pay at the hospital and in the El Camino Hospital District. Check out all of our news coverage from the launch:

Los Altos Town Crier
Feb 10, 2012
Union launches effort to cap hospital executive salaries

Mountain View Voice
Feb 10, 2012
Union moves forward on initiative to cap executive pay at hospital

Marin Independent Journal
Feb 9, 2012
Union launches effort to cap pay of El Camino Hospital executives

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In Sacramento, workers launched the signature gathering effort for two state-wide initiatives–the Fair Healthcare Pricing Act of 2012 and the Charity Care Act of 2012–with a media event that highlighted the outrageous price gouging that is occurring at Sutter Hospitals. Take a look at the great TV coverage the event got, and check out the article from the San Francisco Chronicle:

San Francisco Chronicle
Feb 3, 2012
Hospital union backs initiatives on prices, care

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Southern CA followed with a launch of the signature drive for the two initiatives at Centinela Hospital:

La Opinion
Feb 14, 2012
Denuncian altos precios en hospitales

Check out KPCC’s news report, Intersections South LA’s (USC) piece, and California Healthline’s article . And definitely be sure to listen to SEIU-UHW President Dave Regan debate the initiatives with Jim Lott of the Hospital Association of Southern California on KPCC’s Patt Morrison Show.

It’s clear that this issue of hospital price gouging resonates with people all over the state. Have you ever been the recipient of an outrageous hospital bill?

For Immediate Release: Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Contact: Elizabeth Brennan at 213-999-2164 or David Tokaji at 213-300-8892

LOS ANGELES – Healthcare workers are gaining momentum across the state and building broad consumer support for two ballot measures that will eliminate price gouging at hospitals and increase charity care for the needy.

Tuesday a team of healthcare workers gathered at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood and then dispatched throughout the community to gather signatures in support of two statewide ballot initiatives.

The Fair Healthcare Pricing Act of 2012 will prohibit hospitals from charging more than 25 percent above the actual cost of providing patient care and The Charity Care Act of 2012 sets the minimum level of charity care at 5 percent of patient revenue that nonprofit hospitals must spend on healthcare for the needy in exchange for not paying federal, state and local taxes.

At Centinela Hospital, owned by Prime Healthcare Services, on average patients are charged 789 percent of the hospital’s cost. For example, tear drops cost $151 for a small bottle, lotion is $127, soap is $50 and a bottle of hydrocortisone cream is $113.

“People have a lot of anxiety about the high cost of healthcare and now we know why bills are so high,” said Martha Alvarez, a certified nursing assistant at Prime-owned Centinela Hospital. “Hospitals are charging more than four times their costs and there’s no way patients can pay that much. People deserve hospital care that doesn’t leave them broke.”

Last week more than 100 healthcare workers and community leaders launched the signature drive in Sacramento in front of Sutter Medical Center. This week healthcare workers kicked it off in Southern California where a single dosage of Ibuprofen is $21 and an Ace bandage costs $86.

Healthcare workers must collect 1.7 million signatures to qualify the initiatives for the November 2012 election. In the first three weeks, they have collected more than 200,000 signatures.

“Healthcare workers are leading the charge to reduce healthcare costs in California,” said Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW. “We need a system that prioritizes quality healthcare and doesn’t take advantage of consumers by charging $21 for a single Advil.”

More information at www.yesforahealthycalifornia.org.

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SEIU—United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) is the largest hospital and healthcare union in the western United States with more than 150,000 members. We unite every type of healthcare worker with a mission to achieve high-quality healthcare for all. SEIU-UHW is part of the 2.2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation’s fastest-growing union. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org.

The ballot initiative states:

The annual salary and compensation package for any executive, manager, or administrator of either El Camino Hospital or El Camino Hospital District shall not exceed twice the annual salary of the state governor.

El Camino Hospital is a not-for-profit, publicly funded hospital. Yet the CEO makes nearly $900,000 a year in salary and bonuses that our taxes help pay for.

“I’d rather see my tax dollars go toward providing quality care for my neighbors, my friends and my family, not enriching a handful of hospital executives.”

Kary Lynch, Licensed Psychiatric Tech

El Camino Hospital, Mountain View

Want to learn more about the ballot initiative? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page for more info.

Check out the great press coverage out ballot initiative is getting.

Paid for by SEIU United Healthcare Workers West Political Action Committee