Local activists, today, Saturday, April 17, are hosting a series of rallies in downtown Santa Barbara, urging state legislators to pass AB 1400, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All (CalCare), a statewide equivalent to federal bills calling for Medicare for All.

Participants will practice physical distancing, wear masks, and observe other Covid safety guidelines. Walking between rallies will be on sidewalks and the State Street mall

Participants will meet at 1 p.m. at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse on the Anacapa Street side to share and make signs. After a short rally at about 1:35 pm, marchers will walk two blocks west on Anapamu Street to the offices of Assemblymember Steve Bennett, 101 W. Anapamu St.

The group will then walk back east one block on Anapamu, turn right and head down State Street for two blocks, turn left down Carrillo Street three blocks to the offices of State Sen. Monique Limón, 222 E. Carrillo St., where there will be a short rally in the back parking. Limón has been invited to address the rally.

Local sponsors of the action are Democratic Socialists of America, Physicians for a National Health Program, Healthcare for All-California, Progressive Democrats of America, 24th Congressional District, and the Green Party of Santa Barbara County.

In 2019, an estimated 3 million Californians were uninsured, and another 12 million were underinsured; that was before the global pandemic, which has resulted in widespread job losses, and, and with lost jobs, lost healthcare insurance.

Communities of color and other marginalized communities have suffered the most under an inefficient, overly-complex for-profit healthcare system.

For more, visit https://healthcareforall.org/2021/04/03/connect-with-the-ab-1400-calcare-campaign/.