In Michael Moore's movie, "Sicko," Donna Smith and her husband fell seriously ill. Medical expenses forced them into bankruptcy and they moved into their daughter's basement. "When he got seriously ill with heart and artery disease... I was diagnosed with cancer and within a short time between co-pays, deductibles, out of pocket expenses we had... we were just devastated financially," Smith said.
5-years later, Smith rolled through Fresno with the California Nurses Association's bus tour, pushing for a universal health care plan, based on the European model.
"In European countries we have a mix of public and private financing. We seem to have this odd idea that everything has to be free market base," Smith said.
Across town, we caught up with Natasha Kosachevich. She was born and raised in Russia, and moved to California 20 years ago. She sees flaws in government-run programs.
"I just believe everything is so corrupt that whoever pays more money…everyone's looking out for their own interest because people are suffering in the end," Kosachevich said.
She believes quality of care suffers with universal health care.
But in "Sicko," Smith traveled all the way to Cuba to receive free coverage.
Today she joins forces with California nurses to push beyond President Obama's Affordable Health Care Act.
"We have to have a Medicare for all for type system that we cover everybody from birth to the grave," Smith said.
