L.A. Area SEIU Members Gear Up to Support Effort to Fix Healthcare; Plan Rally fo...( LOS ANGELES Feb. 25 -- The following...),Health

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by SEIU UHW:

NOTE TO EDITORS: On Thursday, Feb. 26--the same day the president's budget is expected to reach Congress--several hundred SEIU members from around the Los Angeles area will rally to support the president's vision to fix healthcare. The rally will be held at 5480 Ferguson Drive in Commerce, CA at noon.

California Healthcare for America Now (HCAN) released a new report today explaining the impact of the broken healthcare system on California's economy. The report can be downloaded from http://hcfan.3cdn.net/42cfe017668a8d3bfb_rum6bp9fq.pdf.

"Next Step: Healthcare: To Fix California's Economy, We Need To Fix Healthcare Now," details how out-of-control healthcare costs are crippling local businesses, breaking state and local budgets, and making it hard for families to afford the healthcare coverage they need. Similar reports were released in 39 other states around the country. Some statistics from the report:

In 2008, the average premium for family coverage in California was $13,498. By 2016, that number is expected to be more than $25,000.

As of 2007, 19 percent of all California state spending went to Medicaid and SCHIP; $35.4 billion went to spending on Medicaid alone.

From 2000 to 2007, premiums in California increased by 95.8 percent while median yearly earnings only increased a mere 19.3 percent.

The cost of employer-paid health coverage premiums in California increased by more than 95 percent from 2000 to 2007.

WHO: Nurses, Home Caregivers, Healthcare Workers, Janitors, Security

Guards and other members of SEIU

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