This is less an update than a request. I’d like to reframe our petition a bit and want to run the change by you first. The petition currently calls on Blue Shield to return to the public the billions of dollars in nonprofit assets it holds. Those assets would then be used to strengthen California’s healthcare safety net. Blue Shield would operate going forward as a for-profit company funded by investors rather than taxpayers and the community. I’d like to change the petition to demand that Blue Shield do either that or start acting like a real nonprofit. Since Blue Shield is sitting on approximately $10 billion in community benefit assets, acting like a real nonprofit would mean providing about $500 million a year in community benefits—an annual return of 5%, which is standard for public benefit foundations. The reason to change the petition in this way now is that California’s regulator of health plans, the Department of Managed Health Care, is likely to soon take up the question of what Blue Shield’s public benefit duties are. If our petition makes a specific demand about what Blue Shield should be doing for the community as a nonprofit, we’ll have more influence over the determination that the DMHC makes than if we call exclusively for Blue Shield to be disbanded as a nonprofit and its assets turned over to the community. If you have questions, concerns, or objections, please post a comment on the change.org page or email me at makeitrightbs@icloud.com. Thanks so much for your support. /Michael Johnson