Club President Susan Peinado called the meeting to order at 4pm and welcomed and introduced City Councilmember David Alvarez, candidate for Mayor of San Diego. Mr. Alvarez gave an overview of his candidacy and thanked the County Democratic Party for their endorsement and support, and he answered questions from the audience.
Ms. Peinado welcomed and introduced Mike Aguirre, candidate for Mayor of San Diego. Mr. Aguirre gave an overview of his candidacy and platform and answered questions from the audience.
Ms. Peinado also recognized Lori Saldana.
Guest Speaker and Q&A
Amid the controversial media coverage of the commencement of Obamacare this was the second club meeting focused on the the new California healthcare initiative and implementation of the Affordable Car Act (ACA).
Guest speaker Steve Rivera is CDP Region 20 Director and part of the statewide effort to educate the public about the Affordable Care Act. He provided an overview on how to understand and compare insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act.
Mr. Rivera referred attendees to Covered California (www.coveredca.com) to answer most questions related to the new health care plans and he provided an overview on how to navigate the site including the ‘Shop and Compare Tool’.
Steve fielded questions from members throughout the meeting, including the issue of Kaiser sending letters to members announcing the cancelation of existing policies with the suggested replacements being more expensive even with available subsidies. Steve had also received such a letter (as Kaiser is his insurance provider) and he suggested waiting a few weeks to see how this plays out as other providers had begun to alter their offerings after receiving numerous complaints. (Since the meeting Dianne Feinstein has co-sponsored legislation proposed by Mary Landrieu to keep all existing individual insurance plans available on the market – more details here.)
President’s Report
Susan announced that the PLDC would have an entry in the OB Holiday Parade. She asked for volunteers and recommendations for an entry name.
She also announced that voting has started and encouraged members to Get Out The Vote (GOTV).
Ms. Peinado announced that the next meeting would take place on November 24, which would occur days after the mayoral primary. A panel of 3-4 journalists are being asked to participate in a moderated discussion on the mayoral race. Patrick Schultheis will moderate the panel. More details here.
She also announced that every two years each Democratic Club is allowed one delegate per every 20 members to participate in the endorsement process at the statewide convention. Ms. Peinado will select the delegates, some of which will be comprised of the PLDC Executive Board.
Ms. Peinado announced that the Club is looking for a new Treasurer to replace Ruth Rollins. Ms. Rollins would like to step down from her role as Treasurer once a replacement is identified. (Since the meeting Barbara Houlton volunteered to be the club’s new treasurer!)
Treasurer’s Report
PLDC Treasurer Ruth Rollins reported the account balance for the club and that the club has a total of 115 members.
Secretary’s Report
Ms. Kinney Newsom provided an overview and guidance on the club’s entry in the OB Holiday Parade – she is chairing and organizing this event for the OB Town Council.
Committee Reports
Action Committee: Barbara Houlton urged everyone to encourage everyone to vote and to make comments online.
Membership Committee: Ms. Gawronski announced that we are only 5 persons short of our annual membership goal of 120
Communications Committee: John Loughlin reported that the club website will include a new set of resources related to the Affordable Care Act, as well as the ability to ask Steve Rivera questions via the web.
The meeting adjourned at 5:28pm and many of the members joined Steve Rivera for continued discussion of health care issues at happy hour.
Related articles
- Learning About Covered California and Meeting Three of the Democratic Candidates for Mayor at the September Meeting (pointlomadem.org)
- Oct 27 – Monthly Meeting – Covering California With Obamacare II (pointlomadem.org)
- Feinstein Statement on Health Insurance Cancellations (feinstein.senate.gov)
POINT LOMA & OB DEMS 