IN THIS EPISODE
Is California finally getting serious about fixing our health care? On April 25, 2022, a major report was issued on California’s fragmented and uber-expensive healthcare system. Who’s behind the report? What were its conclusions and recommendations? And how much money can Californians actually save? Get these answers and more!
Join host Brenda Gazzar and guest Michael Lighty, president of Healthy California Now, to get the facts about Governor Gavin Newsom’s Healthy California for All Commission and its new report on single-payer health care in the Golden State.
SHOW NOTES
WE DISCUSS
Health insurance keeps getting more expensive. In response, Governor Newsom convened a commission. What was the point?
“…the point was really to bring together a diverse set of experts and stakeholders, advocates, folks engaged in health policy and engaged in delivery of health services, to come up with a plan for how we get from here to there. And the “there,” of course, is guaranteed health care for all Californians …The idea being that a diverse group of experts consider this issue, they come up with a good plan and analysis of where things are and how to move forward. And that’s what happened. It’s quite an extraordinary achievement that such a diverse group did come to a consensus in favor of unified financing and utilized some analysis that was very compelling…” – Michael Lighty
So, bottom line – how much money and how many lives did the commission conclude unified financing can save our state?
“…California can save up to $500 billion dollars, a half a trillion dollars over the next 10 years, if they adopt a unified financing system. [We] can save 4,000 lives or more annually and can address the inequities that have been exposed so thoroughly by the pandemic…if we don’t do this, we’re going to spend another $158 billion dollars more into 2031…” – Michael Lighty
Were the commissioners already slanted toward single-payer?
“Ah, no. The reality is that some of these folks are very invested and have made careers out of either the status quo or tweaking the status quo. And so the truth is that this was a group, going in, that was by no means inclined to adopt a consensus approach in favor of unified financing.” – Michael Lighty
Is this report going to have any impact? What’s the next step?
“…this is not a report that’s going to sit on the shelf. It’s intended to be implemented to promote action and to do so immediately. And I think that the key next step is…engagement with the federal government led by Governor Newsom.” – Michael Lighty
Helpful Links
Healthy California for All Commission
California Can Save As Much As $500 billion In Healthcare Costs Over the Next Decade
Healthy California Now
AB 1400, California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act
Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) and co-authors
Analysis: It’s Time to End the Racially Unjust Medical Debt Crisis
California Health Report
Stanford study finds medical debt is a double whammy for the poor
Stanford News
The Staggering Costs of Health Insurance “Sludge”
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Episode Transcript
Read the full episode transcript.
Guest Biography
Michael Lighty, President, Healthy California Now, has organized, advocated and developed policy for single-payer, Medicare for All nationally and in California for over 30 years.
He is a founding Fellow of the Sanders Institute, and most recently, he was the Healthcare Constituency Director for Bernie 2020.
Formerly he was director of public policy for the California Nurses Association/ National Nurses United. He was lead policy analyst, a leader of Campaign for a Healthy California and testified on behalf of the single-payer bill, SB 562.
Get Involved / Take Action
Let Governor Newsom know that you support unified financing, single-payer health care in California.
Tell your state senator and assembly member to work with the governor to save California $500 billion in healthcare costs over the next 10 years!
Join Healthy California Now – a coalition working toward a California single-payer system. Individual and organizational memberships available.
Subscribe to HEAL California for health policy news with a California focus
Join Health Care for All California to keep up with local actions to support California single-payer health care.
Join Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) to support a national campaign to improve and expand Medicare to all residents of the U.S.
Find more Code WACK! episodes on ProgressiveVoices.com, on the PV App and on NurseTalk Media. You can also subscribe to Code WACK! wherever you find your podcasts. This podcast is powered by HEAL California, uplifting the voices of those fighting for health care reform around the country. I’m Brenda Gazzar.
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