Tim Rumford writes, "Here in Santa Cruz we have our own county based health insurance providing healthcare for the poor, MediCruz. Although MediCruz has many problems, it has to be said that it is not a requirement of the City nor the County to provide such services. MediCruz was designed to give healthcare to the homeless and the most poor in our community.

"You can only apply only for MediCruz if you are currently having a health crisis. In other words, you must already be sick or injured to even apply. As of July 1st, MediCruz applicants have 30 days after applying to prove they filed their 2007 income taxes to be considered for eligibility. This additional layer of red tape is not designed to make the poor pay their fair share. It is designed to stop a percentage of people from applying for MediCruz at all." Read More

see also: "This Plan is Your Plan" sung by The Raging Grannies