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Tom Condit for Insurance Commissioner |
 En Español
We need to reduce or eliminate the power of giant corporations like the insurance companies. I am running for Insurance Commissioner as part of a movement against corporate power and for democracy and equality.
If elected, I will fight discrimination and red-lining in insurance, work to reduce insurance company bureaucracy and red tape, and end the practices by which companies try to avoid risk by dumping those who need help the most.
But that's not enough. I'm also campaigning to eliminate private insurance companies in the health field. We need one universal health care system, not a maze of inadequate and contradictory plans. The state or federal government must take the responsibility of paying for health care for all, financed by taxes like any other public service.
We also need a single state automobile liability insurance plan, covering every vehicle and every driver without insurance company overhead. Plans like this, covering basic liability for property damage and personal injury, have been successful in several Canadian provinces. They add a surcharge to the vehicle license fee, so that every car on the road is covered as part of its registration. An even simpler plan would be "pay at the pump" -- a surcharge on fuel which would essentially let vehicle owners reduce their insurance costs by driving less or using greater fuel efficiency. This would also mean that all out-of-state vehicles on California roads would be automatically covered.
The recent "reforms" in workers' compensation insurance show the futility of relying on the private sector to give injured and ill workers the assistance they need. We should join those other states and Canadian provinces which have an exclusive state workers' compensation fund, without insurance company profits.
We need to keep the promises we owe to each other as members of society -- to heal the sick, to care for the aged, to educate the children. We must come together to build a new society based on cooperation and caring. Then we won't need parasites like the insurance companies. |
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