California health advocates gathered on the lawn of the state capitol building this week to meet the Cover America Tour and speak out in support of several bills pending in the state legislature to improve health care quality and coverage.

Local resident Cindy Gaston of Elverta, CA (pictured), spoke to the press about suffering from a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection after the C-section delivery of her baby. She said her own experience illustrates the need for mandatory public reporting of hospital-acquired infection rates and the need to know which hospitals are doing a good job of protecting their patients. State Senator Elaine Alquist (pictured, far right) is sponsoring a bill that would require not only disclosure of infection rates but improved MRSA screening of hospital patients to prevent its spread.

Coalition partners Health Access and the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network highlighted several other bills that will also be voted on next week in the California legislature, including one to increase the transparency of cost and quality data available to the public. Another would help protect consumers from “junk” insurance plans by requiring all policies to cover certain types of care and setting a maximum for out-of-pocket costs.

The Tour crew filmed the health care stories of several local Californians and welcomed folks in to check out the RV (a short tour though it may be), including Senator Alquist and several members of Governor Schwarzenegger’s health policy staff. For a photo of the crowd inside the RV and more information about the bills, check out this Health Access blog.

Hear radio coverage of the event by the Public News Service here (make sure you click on the audio player). For a press release of the event click here.

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