SITUATION:  Medigap is an extra insurance policy that Medicare recipients can buy to help pay out-of-pocket costs not covered by Medicare. Presently, if an enrollee does not purchase a Medigap plan during their initial Medicare enrollment period, signing up for it later is difficult and more costly.

CASB 1236 creates open enrollment opportunities for Medicare beneficiaries to choose a Medigap policy between January 1 and March 31 annually—the same time frame for signing up for Medicare Advantage plans and others. 

This bill will have its first hearing April 24 at 1:30 in the Senate Health Committee.

ACTION:
1) Call your CA Senate member this week and ask them to support SB 1236!!!
Senator Scott Wiener: (916) 651-4011.
Click HERE to locate State Senators outside of San Francisco.
2) Email the Senate Health committee this week and ask them to forward your comments to the Senate Health Committee members. Email them here: SHEA.Committee@senate.ca.gov
3) Share this message with friends, family and colleagues in California.

You can watch or listen to hearing on April 24, 2024 at 1:30 p.m. HERE.

SITUATION:  People living in Residential Care Facilities (RCFEs) often feel that their complaints go unheeded, even when a formal complaint is filed. California Assembly Bill 1911 makes the complaint process in RCFEs more timely, efficient and fair, by:

• Putting an end to the practice of informally screening complaints, and not telling the complainant if their issue is not going forward,
   
• Imposing investigation deadlines for RCFE complaints that align with deadlines for nursing home complaint investigations, 
   
• Requiring written notice to the complainant when their complaint is received and assigned for investigation, and
   
• Creating a right to appeal investigation findings.

ACTION: Contact your assembly member and ask them to vote Yes on AB 1911.

• Click HERE to contact Assembly Member Matt Haney, District 17.
• Click HERE to contact Assembly Member Phil Ting, District 19.
• Click HERE to identify and locate State Assembly Members outside of San Francisco.

CALL TO ACTION: SB 980 HEARING ON MARCH 20TH!

CARAs sponsored bill, SB 980 (Wahab) which expands the Medi-Cal Dental benefit to cover implants –  impacting over 1.6 million Medi-Cal Senior beneficiaries – will be heard in the Senate Health Committee on MARCH 20TH. Visit our Positions Letters page to learn more about the bill, get your organization to submit a support letter, and join us in Sacramento on MARCH 20TH! If you would like to join our CARA Lobby Team on March 20th, please contact Dwane Camp at dcamp.cara@gmail.com . You can submit a letter directly on our Website HERE – Thank you!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

CARA’s STATEWIDE LOBBY DAY TRAINING

FRIDAY, MARCH 22ND AT 12 NOON

REGISTER HERE: https://bit.ly/CARALobby24

CARA’s Statewide (Virtual) Lobby Day will be held on Friday, APRIL 12TH, when we will talk to the 120 legislative offices (CARA CATs will host these).  If you want to attend, email caralobby@gmail.com to let us know which legislators you would like to talk with and we will send you the details.

In preparation for our Lobby Day, PLEASE register for our Lobby Day Training- Fabulous Friday Forum on March 22nd to learn more about our priority bills and how to conduct our virtual lobby visits.  REGISTER AT https://bit.ly/CARALobby24

SITUATION: California Assembly Bill 2200—known as the California Guaranteed Health Care For All Act, introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Ash Kalra—sets in motion a single-payer health care coverage system in California, called CalCare, for all residents, regardless of citizenship status. By streamlining payments and lowering per-capita health care spending, CalCare guarantees quality health care and long term care without creating barriers to care or out of pocket costs.

This crucial legislation needs to be heard and voted on by the Assembly Health Committee within the next two months in order to move forward. 

ACTION: National Nurses United is holding house parties all over California to plan future actions to support the passage of the bill. Get together with other activists and learn about a plan to win, in a fun, informative and empowering gathering. 

The San Francisco house party is Thursday, March 21 at 6 p.m., 1407 5th Avenue, Apt A (top buzzer). Click HERE to register. See National Nurses United-CalCare for more information and ways to get involved. 

Please also share this message with colleagues, friends and family in California. 

SITUATION: The Coalition to End Biased Stops has been working for over 2 years to eliminate racially biased police stops in SF. The Police Commission did finally vote unanimously in favor of Department General Order 9.07, a comprehensive policy to prohibit racially-biased traffic stops in San Francisco. HOWEVER – since then, this policy has been stuck in the “meet and confer process” with the Police Officer’s Association (POA).

It has taken nearly an entire year, but the policy is finally coming back to the Police Commission for its second and final vote TOMORROW, February 21st.

ACTION:

• Please take 20 seconds to send an email to the commission urging them to finally implement DGO 9.07 by using this easy email tool.
• Please post on social media, urging the commission to finally implement DGO 9.07, using this social media toolkit!
• Meet us at Police Commission tomorrow at 6:30pm at City Hall, Room 400! We want to show force, and while the meeting starts at 5:30pm, this item is 8^th on the agenda.

To learn more about DGO 9.07, why it’s so important for our clients, and why it has been held up so long, please read this letter drafted by the coalition.

And please share this message with colleagues, friends and family in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO PROPOSITIONS A, B, E, AND F
RECOMMENDATIONS

The OWL Board studied these Propositions on the ballot for the March 5th election in San Francisco and came to the following conclusions:

YES ON A – Bond issue for affordable housing including designations for seniors, families and abuse survivors.

NO ON B – Dubbed the “Cop Tax” and would require approval of new taxes to support this vital service which should be funded from current tax. Would actually delay increasing police force.

NO ON E – Decreases oversight by Police Commission, allows increase of dangerous vehicle chases on our crowded streets, allows more use of surveillance technologies without safeguards, decreases police accountability by decreasing reports of “incidents.”  

NO ON F – This proposition would require anyone receiving CAAP/public assistance benefits to be screened for substance use and if dependent on illegal drugs referred for professional evaluation and possible treatment. If they refuse, they will lose their public assistance money that they depend on to live! This measure is punitive, intrusive and depends on treatment services that are currently scarce and not easily accessible. 

SITUATION: Understanding our courts is vital to preserving justice. We have wanted an informative discussion on why independent judiciaries matter and how voters can thoughtfully evaluate judicial candidates. To educate ourselves on our judicial system before casting our ballot.
 
ACTION: Sign up and join the League of Women Voters SF on February 1 for an informative discussion on why independent judiciaries matter and how voters can thoughtfully evaluate judicial candidates. With nonpartisan insights from prominent judges, this event will empower you to consider qualifications, over money and politics, when choosing the judges who serve our communities. Leave informed and inspired about citizens’ impact in upholding the integrity of America’s courts. Click HERE to sign up for the event.

AND: Forward this message to friends, family and colleagues.

SITUATION:  City College of San Francisco does not yet have or follow a climate action and sustainability plan, despite efforts begun almost two decades ago. As one of the largest property owners in San Francisco, CCSF must do its part to ensure and contribute to a sustainable future and a just transition to a green, all-electric City.
 

ACTION:  Before Jan. 25 urge the City College Board to support the proposed resolution Supporting a Green New Deal for City College and Adopting a Climate Action and Sustainability Plan. (See the full text of the Resolution here. ) You can voice your support in person, by phone or in writing. Click here to access information on all forms of support on City College website and read the suggested talking points.

ALSO: Share this message with friends, family and colleagues in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Big Oil does not want you to know that they get millions of dollars of subsidies in California every year.

SITUATION: The corporations responsible for decades of climate destruction are padding their profits with our tax dollars—on top of the hundreds of billions of dollars they make selling polluting oil and gas. Then, they turn around and use that money to subvert our democracy for their gain. Between 2020 and 2022, oil corporations and their trade groups spent more than $36.3 million in California alone lobbying state regulators and elected officials to delay climate action.

Even this year, when faced with a multi-billion dollar budget deficit, our state still gave away millions in subsidies to fossil fuel corporations and cut climate investments as a result.

California must stop bailing out wealthy fossil fuel corporations.

ACTION: Governor Newsom has the power to end their special treatment and reinvest that money in a climate-safe future. Newsom will unveil his next budget proposal in January. This is our chance to make sure not a single cent of taxpayer money goes to oil and gas corporations. Email and/or call Governor Newsom: END FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES.

Governor Gavin Newsom
1021 O Street, Suite 900
Sacramento, CA  95814
(916) 445-2841
Click HERE to email Gavin Newsom.

OWL-SF has been fighting against Social Security and Medicare cuts for decades. Efforts to cut these programs have taken various forms.  
 
SITUATION: Currently a very dangerous “debt commission” is being suggested by House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Senators Manchin and Romney have introduced legislation that would establish such a commission. (Some of you may remember the Bowles-Simpson Commission back in 2010.)
 
This “debt commission” would likely operate behind closed doors, have no input except from its members, and be fast-tracked without debate in Congress. It would try to reduce social security benefits, rather than providing new revenue to strengthen these earned benefits.
 
ACTION: This is extremely dangerous. It is time for us to tell our legislators again that we want them to vigorously oppose the establishment of a “debt commission”, which will give cover for cutting Social Security/ Medicare benefits.

And: Please share this message with friends, family and colleagues. 
 
Alex Padilla:
333 Bush Street
Suite 3225
San Francisco, CA 94104
415) 981-9369
Click HERE to email Alex Padilla

Laphonza Butler:
One Post Street
Suite 2450
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 393-0707
Click HERE to email Laphonza Butler

Nancy Pelosi:
90 7th Street Suite 2-800
San Francisco, CA  94103
Phone: (415) 556-4862
Click HERE to email Nancy Pelosi
 
Kevin Mullin:
1528 S. El Camino Real, Suite 307
San Mateo, CA  94402
(650) 342-0300
Click HERE to email Kevin Mullin

SITUATION: Representative Mike Johnson, the newly elected Republican Speaker of the House, has advanced legislation to balance funding for Israel by slashing the proposed IRS budget.

Many studies have shown that the proposed IRS increased budget will pay for itself many times over by forcing billionaires and other high income individuals and groups to pay fairly owed taxes.

ACTION: Call our California senators to tell them that cutting proposed IRS funding is a non -starter.

And forward this messages to friends, family and colleagues. 

Alex Padilla
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3553
Click HERE to email Alex Padilla

Laphonza Butler
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room G-12
Washington, DC 20510 
(202) 224-3841 
Click HERE to email Laphonza Butler

SITUATION: In May OWL devoted its Membership Meeting to a discussion of Gun Violence with a speaker from the Brady campaign.

And now we have yet another mass killing using a high-powered automatic weapon.

We must tell our Congress people to ban the sale of all automatic assault weapons.

ACTION: Please write again to Congresswoman Pelosi, and Senators Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler. Tell them how you feel about this preventable violence in our country, town after town—565 mass shootings so far in the U.S. this year!

Also please share this message with friends, family and colleagues. 

Contact info:

Nancy Pelosi
1236 Longworth H.O.B.
Washington, DC  20515
Phone: (202) 225-4965
Click HERE to email Nancy Pelosi

Alex Padilla
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3553
Click HERE to email Alex Padilla

Laphonza Butler
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room G-12
Washington, DC 20510 
(202) 224-3841 
Click HERE to email Laphonza Butler

SITUATION: The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting being held in San Francisco from November 11^th to the 17^th will involve dignitaries and heads of state visiting from 21 member nations—including U.S. President Joe Biden and potentially his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. For this reason, U.S. Homeland Security has designated the APEC summit a “National Special Security Event,” and has called for an “exclusion zone,” which will close streets and limit vehicular and pedestrian mobility in the South of Market Area.
 
This area is home to many vulnerable residents, including immigrants, unhoused and seniors, plus small businesses, childcare centers and schools.
 
The Mayor’s office recently announced that they surpassed their fundraising goal, and the bulk of these funds have been budgeted to advertise and promote APEC, along with plans and events to host dignitaries—while there has been very little information shared with the affected communities on how their daily lives and movement may be impacted.
 
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has passed a resolution urging Mayor Breed to prioritize funds—currently on reserve for residents and neighborhoods including community based organizations, schools, small businesses, and workers—to address and mitigate the local impacts and disruptions that will be caused by the APEC related activities.

SOLUTION: OWL-SF is very concerned about the impacts of the coming APEC summit. Please contact Mayor London Breed to request that she spend some of the $10 million in reserve funds set aside for the APEC conference to inform and assist seniors and people with disabilities as well as families living in the area. 

Mayor London Breed
phone: (415) 554-6141
E-mail: MayorLondonBreed@sfgov.org

OWL-SF would like to thank Members for your political participation via OWL Alerts. Congratulations are in order for a pair of recent victories:

The OWL Alert for September 6 asked Members to contact California State legislators to urge them to pass AB 645, which creates a pilot program in several California cities—including San Francisco—installing cameras to enforce speed limits. Not only did the legislature pass the bill, Governor Newsom signed it into law on October 13.
 

Please try to attend this important Medicare webinar and also forward this to friends across the country.

Dear Medicare supporter,

As we move into Medicare’s Open Enrollment period, PNHP is ramping up its campaign against corporate profiteering. The need is clear: Our recently released report shows that the so-called “Medicare Advantage” program is overpaid by a stunning amount—up to $140 billion per year. That’s money that should be going to patient care instead of profits for executives and shareholders. We have to put an end to this, and we need your help to do it.

Please join us on Monday, Oct. 16 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern (1 pm Western) for an important webinar kicking off our campaign against corporate profiteering in Medicare Advantage.

REGISTER HERE

We’ll be going over our new report, sharing powerful stories from patients and physicians, and providing lots of ways for you to join the fight. We’ll also be joined by several allies in this movement, and will hear a special message from Medicare for All lead sponsor, Rep. Pramila Jayapal!

Millions of Medicare champions are taking action to stand up for seniors and people with disabilities. Help build the kind of grassroots movement we need to confront the power of big insurance…and win!

This next phase of the campaign kicks off next Monday, Oct. 16 with the OPEN SEASON webinar.

Please join us. 

Physicians for a National Health Program
29 E Madison St Ste 1412 | Chicago, Illinois 60602
312-782-6006 | info@pnhp.org

At our last OWL membership meeting on September 23 we had a good discussion of long-term care and Medicare with some questions still left unanswered. Here is an opportunity to hear more about this important topic from one of our partner groups—the Community Living Campaign—as part of their Zoom presentations each week.

Understanding Long Term Care and Who Pays For It
As if the fear and treatment related to this issue is not enough, the financial concern is an added burden. Join Sarah Hooper, j.d. UC School of Law as she discusses the options currently available to help.

Takes place, Friday, October 6, Noon to 1 pm.

HOW TO JOIN THE EVENT :

To join by phone, dial 669-900-6833 or 646-558-8656.
Enter Meeting ID: 298 110 801# and then the password: 671492

To join by video from a PC, Mac, Linux, IOS or Android device, 
Click this link: https://ucsf.zoom.us/j/298110801

Password is: 671492

For more information, see: https://sfcommunityliving.org/event/senior-connections-2023/2023-10-06/

SITUATION:  The term “excited delirium” has been used extensively when reporting on wrongful deaths in custody, frequently justifying the use of violence by law enforcement, and disproportionally applied to black people. In fact, neither the American Medical Association nor the American Psychiatric Association recognizes this term as a legitimate diagnosis.
 
California Senate bill AB 360, would prohibit “excited delirium,” as defined, from being recognized as a valid medical diagnosis or cause of death in this state.

AB 360 has been passed by the California Legislature and will become a law if Governor Newsom signs it.
 
ACTION: Write to Governor Newsom urging him to sign AB 360 to get rid of this racist term.   
 
Go to gov.ca.gov/contact
On the right column “by email,” select “an active bill.”
Select AB360
Purpose is to “leave a comment.”
Hit “next”
Choose “pro”
 
Paste the following for message subject and message:
 
Message Subject: AB360
 
What to Say:
 
Dear Governor Newsom,
 
I am writing to urge you to sign AB360 – Excited Delirium – to make California the leader in ending the fraudulent use of the term as medical science, which it is not.

It is rare that such an important issue can be passed by the legislature with almost universal bipartisan support. In the Senate, there was only one no vote, and in the assembly, 77 ayes and 3 NVRs. Please make California the first state to ban the use “Excited Delirium” and other similar fraudulent terms in death determinations. By signing AB360, you are promoting transparency, accountability and responsibility.
 
Sincerely,
 
Hit “next”
Add contact information (name and email), and submit.
 
 ALSO: Share this message with friends, family and colleagues in California. 

“A developed city isn’t one where even the poor drive cars but where even the rich take public transportation.” Enrique Peñalosa

SITUATION: Underinvestment in transit too often leaves seniors and people with disabilities out in the cold. For the environment and for equity, we need to invest in transit that’s accessible for all. 

ACTION: Attend a rally IN PERSON at Market & 5th Street in front of the broken elevator on Wednesday, September 27, from 10 am to 11 am.

If you can’t attend the rally write to Mayor Breed, the supervisors, and members of the State Senate and Assembly urging them to be there. (Contact Info below)
 
What to Say:  I am a senior voter and a member of OWL, Older Women’s League.  Several organizations for seniors and people with disabilities–OWL, Senior & Disability Action,  California Alliance for Retired Americans– have joined other organizations to endorse the upcoming rally “Invest in Transit Accessibility” on September 27 from 10 to 11 at the Hallidie Plaza.  Please show that you care by attending–and perhaps speaking at– this rally. 

Click HERE for London Breed contact info.
Click HERE for SF Board of Supervisors contact info.
Click HERE for California State Assembly contact info.
Click HERE for California State Senate contact info.