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Andrew LaMar
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Sacramento – California physicians, who have long supported health system reform that will expand access to care to the millions of Americans who do not have it, today applauded President Obama’s push for comprehensive reform this year.

Representatives of the Obama administration are scheduled to appear at a town-hall forum in Los Angeles today to discuss health care, the fifth such event he has held in recent weeks to highlight the issue. Dr. Dev A. GnanaDev, the president of CMA, will participate and be available afterward for interviews.

“It is shameful that nearly 7 million residents of one the world’s richest states are uninsured. The lack of health care coverage creates major costs and negative consequences for California’s business climate, economy and social infrastructure,” said GnanaDev, a trauma surgeon at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, the county hospital for San Bernardino County. “The key to health care reform is ensuring patients have access to doctors when they need one, and that will cut system costs, enhance the quality of care and improve outcomes.”

“Many people – even those with public insurance – lack access to a primary care doctor, which has caused them to put off important preventative care,” GnanaDev said. “The result is many people don’t see a doctor until their health problems become serious or grave, and many end up getting care in emergency rooms, where treatment is much more expensive and sometimes not as effective as earlier intervention would have been.”

CMA supports reform that devotes health care resources to actual care, instead of allowing billions of dollars to be siphoned out of the system for insurance company profits. Reform must also include provisions that guarantee access and prohibit insurance companies from rescinding coverage for people when they get sick or denying necessary treatment.

CMA has long advocated for better quality health care and wider coverage. The association sponsored legislation that created the state’s Healthy Families Program, which provides health care to children from low-income families. CMA also sponsored SB 2, the last major health reform legislation to pass in California. SB 2, which was signed in 2003, required employers to offer health insurance or pay the state a fee to provide it. That measure was overturned by referendum the following year.

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The California Medical Association represents more than 35,000 physicians in all modes of practice and specialties. CMA is dedicated to the health of all patients in California.