A good guy at the top

July 14, 2011 -- Today I shook the hand of another warrior for the people: Dave Jones, California's new Insurance Commissioner.

He describes himself as an activist. What he doesn't say in this article but did say in his speech today at the Public Policy Institute of California is that he is a whole-hearted supporter of California's Senate Bill SB810, our best hope for a single payer healthcare system. (I've written lots about it in this blog.)

Inaugurated at the start of this year, Mr. Jones hit the ground running, doing what he could with the limited powers of his office to restrain the insurance companies. For example, he has enacted in California (modeled on the federal reforms) limitations on the "overhead" that insurers can incur, requiring them to spend $0.80 of every premium dollar on actual healthcare (hospitals, doctors, medical and ancillary services and providers.) To everyone but the employees and shareholders of Anthem Blue Cross, that's still 20% of pure waste but it's a step in the right direction.

Go Dave!

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