On Monday the California Nurses Association announced that they were joining the AFL-CIO, which brings the total number of registered nurses in the AFL-CIO to 325,000.

The story from the Washington Post reports that the CNA's executive director cites their decision to join the AFL-CIO as a result of the "unprecedented momentum for comprehensive health care reform." The article further explains that the CNA "opposed any reforms that would leave private insurers as the system's gatekeepers."

I always like things like that last little gem. I'm not unsympathetic to people's frustrations about insurance companies as gatekeepers, but the alternative that these guys propose is infinitely worse.

A lobbyist for an association here in Austin likes to characterize their position on Medicaid reform/health care reform as being that the "state needs to get the right care, to the right people, at the right time." I can see why this is the preferred method for reform. The government is so good at getting people what they need, when they need it.

Just ask all the people (great stories here and here) who have been waiting for their passports.