Join California Communities United Institute

Tell Your Friends About Us - Its Easy

If you like the work we do together, and you think your friends will as well, just send them an E-mail. Tell them you like our services and encourage them to check it out.

Just send them the address at the end of this article and suggest they go there. Tell them to scroll down to, and click on, "Take Action Now" to see the list of the latest alerts.

If they click on the alerts that interest them, they will be able to respond to them just as you do.

You can also tell them they will often find very interesting videos that explain, in depth, why the bills discussed in the alerts are important.

Be a force for positive change! Tell your friends to check us out! To begin, send them the following link:

http://www.calcomui.org

Boyce Hinman

________

A Victory For Women

In April of this year, the California Commission on the Status of Women had to lay off all of its staff. It had run out of money to pay them.

Worse yet, Governor Brown had recommended that they no longer be funded. In fact, he urged the legislature to remove all mention of the Commission from California's statutes.

However, the legislature refused to go along with that plan. In the budget approved in late June, the legislature provided $270,000 to fund the Commission for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.

In addition, Speaker of the Assembly John Perez, donated $150,000 of his discretionary funds to the Commission. He has also donated one of his staff members to work with the Commission while they get a staff up and running again. To learn more, click here.

Boyce Hinman

________

You May Soon Receive Money

Insurance Refund

As a result of the passage of The Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) you may receive a check in the mail later this year.

Here is why. The Affordable Care Act requires all health insurance companies to spend at least 80% of their annual income on actual medical care. No more than 20% may be spent on overhead costs (advertising, salaries of company workers, bonuses etc.).

Any company that spends more than that limit on overhead, must refund the excess to their policy holders. For example, if they spend 26% of their income on overhead, they must give 6% of their income that year back to their policy holders.

The money will be divided among all the people who have health insurance with them. So no one will get rich from these refunds. Even so, if your health insurance company is one of the over-spenders, you should receive a check in the mail.

This is one of many ways that the Affordable Care Act will make health insurance more affordable for Americans.

To see which isurance companies owe refunds, click here. 

Boyce Hinman

_______

The Lesbian Space Traveler

Sally Ride

This is another of a series of articles on LGBT people who made major contributions to the development of California, or of the nation.

The articles are inspired by the passage, in 2011, of SB 48 which requires California schools to teach about the contributions of LGBT people to the state and nation.

You may see the previous articles by directing your browser to: http://www.calcomui.org/lgbtiissues.html

and then, on the resulting page, scrolling down to the section on SB 48.

Sally Ride died recently, at the age of 61. She was an astronaut, and she was a lesbian. At the time of her death she had been in a 27 year relationship with another woman, Tam O'Shaughnessy.

To see how much you have benefitted from Sally Ride's work, and to see a satellite image of the sun, click here.

Boyce Hinman

________

Medicaid Expansion Matters To Minorities

One part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) required states to enroll more people on limited income in Medicaid (called Medicare in California).

The states were to do this by increasing the amount people could earn and still qualify for Medicaid.

Sadly, the US Supreme Court overturned this part of the law. It said, states could increase the limit if they chose too, but the federal government can't require them to do so.

So far, Florida and South Carolina have said they will not take part in Medicaid expansion. However, 26 states went to court to oppose the Medicaid expansion feature of the Affordable Care Act. Many of them may also choose not to take part in Medicaid expansion.

And that could have a tragic impact on minorities. To find out how,  click here.

Boyce Hinman

________

Feds Ban Some Trans Discrimination

Recently, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a letter saying that the Affordable Care Act bans discrimination against transgender people by federally funded health care providers.

This means that federally funded doctors, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes or other health care providers (such as those paid by Medi-Cal or Medicaid) may not discriminate against transgender patients on the basis of their gender identity, or their failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity.

To Learn more about how to submit a complaint, and for answers to common questions, click here.

Boyce Hinman

________