Healthcare failures filled signs painted to look like dominoes and propped up Tuesday morning by a group representing college students, grocery workers, seniors, children and others.

About 80 percent of the nation's uninsured are members of working families, one sign said. More than 30,000 children in Ventura County are uninsured, read another. As many as 6.6 million Californians don't have insurance, said a third.

The person holding the first sign let it topple into the second, triggering a chain reaction of signs falling loudly in a Ventura church courtyard.

"Something needs to be done before the (healthcare) system comes crashing down. Now is the time to speak out," said the Rev. Erik Gaynor, a member of the Ventura County Healthcare Coalition.

Coalition leaders and others worried about the dominoes of the uninsured crisis gathered at the First United Methodist Church to call for healthcare policies that cover all Californians. They issued grades to three reform bills in the state Legislature.

Most telling was the grade given to the status quo: an F. The failure was pinned on everything from the low reimbursement rate for Medi-Cal to the way medical expenses contribute to personal bankruptcy.

The coalition includes the Ventura County Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, an arm of the United Food and Commercial Workers and the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy. Others at the event included an AARP volunteer, a free-clinic dentist who talked about uninsured families who can't care for their children's decaying teeth and an 18-month-old girl named Zoe. She toddled around in a pink hooded shirt.

Zoe's mom, Melissa Treanor, worked at Vons for 13 years, left for six years and then returned. Her health insurance coverage didn't begin until she completed her first year back. She said her children won't be covered until 30 months of service. For the first time ever, Treanor needs government insurance.

Alex Pacheco started conversations by showing his hand and the remains of third-degree burns suffered when he was 18 months old. He said that if an uninsured child had the same accident today, it would be a nightmare.

Pacheco had insurance then. Now the 24-year-old college student does not.

"It feels like every day I get up to do activities and live my life, I'm taking a big risk," he said.

Although the event was filled with bad news, organizers said the problems can be improved this year, citing the flurry of legislative proposals.

"People are finally seeing that we're at an F and we're higher achievers than that," said Maricela Morales of Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy.

The coalition had earlier adopted a declaration stressing 10 principles, including coverage for all, affordability and timely access. They gave grades Tuesday in all 10 categories to legislative proposals.

A bill by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, received the highest marks with an average of A-minus. It proposes that all Californians be covered by state-run insurance funded by an 8 percent payroll tax on employers. Workers would also pay a tax of about 4 percent.

"This is really the only bill that provides universal, comprehensive healthcare to everyone who lives here," said Lenore Arab, a UCLA professor of epidemiology and part of the healthcare coalition.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's reform package also proposes coverage for all. Employers would cover their employees or pay a 4 percent payroll tax into a state fund.

Coalition members say they won't grade the governor's plan until it surfaces as a bill.

They gave an average grade of a C to bills by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Alameda. Both bills expand coverage to about 70 percent of uninsured people. Most added costs would be paid by employers who don't provide insurance.