The California Nurses Association has endorsed an important patient and consumer protection measure that will be on the ballot this fall. It’s a measure to rein in the spiraling rates and premiums charged by the health insurance industry by requiring them to justify their price hikes. This Wednesday legislators, that spent the past decade opposing rate regulation legislation, will hold a hearing in Sacramento to discredit the ballot measure. CNA members will be there to rally and participate in the hearing to let them know why the measure is needed.

California patients would have greater access to doctors and hospitals of their choice and the state’s non-profit hospitals would be held more accountable in documenting their charity care and community benefits under two bills strongly backed by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU).

The county still wants to buy Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy and O’Connor Hospital in San Jose, but the Daughters of Charity—owner of six medical care facilities throughout the state—is courting prospective buyers interested in acquiring the entire nonprofit health system, according to Board of Supervisors President Mike Wasserman.

More than 125 nurses held a pro-union rally outside Memorial Medical Center in Modesto on Tuesday. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United said about 900 registered nurses at Memorial are eligible to vote on union membership in an election set for Thursday and Friday. Employees with other unionized hospitals, including Kaiser Modesto Medical Center, participated in the rally outside the hospital at Coffee Road and Briggsmore Avenue.

Two RNs explain why they strongly support voting yes for CNA. An emergency room RN at MMC shares, "I became a nurse to provide quality care to those in need. I love my patients and care for them as if they are my family members. I’m voting yes because my ultimate goal is to do just that.” A long-term MMC ICU RN shares, "My current experience is that CNA doesn’t force me to do anything; they force the employer to obey the law and protect patients."