The time for political will and bold solutions trumping corporate greed in California is now. We must not let insurance companies and drug makers use their profits to intimidate our representatives, lower our expectations and allow this historic moment to slip away.
Millions of Californians do not have access to health insurance, and millions more have insurance but can’t use it. Yes, critics talk about health insurance as the goal, but never describe how insured people can’t afford their high deductibles and copays, or can’t find the doctors they need, rendering their insurance almost useless.
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The latest legislative proposals tinker around the symptoms but never confront the disease. Non-solutions, such as more premium assistance, expanding Medi-Cal as a public insurance option and offering health coverage to undocumented adult immigrants, only enable corporate healthcare to continue profiting off the sick with the help of lucrative government subsidies.
Opponents have continually misrepresented SB 562. For instance:
They say it’s too expensive, and point to a mythical cost of $400 billion. Untrue! $369 billion is what we currently pay (according to testimony offered by the LAO), while leaving 3 million Californians uninsured and an estimated 12 million underinsured. The truth? Robert Pollin (UMass, Amherst) calculated that with SB562, our collective costs would drop to around $331 billion, while comprehensively covering everybody in the state.- They say, we can’t possibly move forward with single-payer while Trump is in office. That’s baloney. In the face of Trump’s repeated attempts to take away or erode our core national healthcare programs, there is no better time than now to highlight the critical importance of providing health care as an essential element of a functioning democracy. SB562 is a pathway to a California that values human lives over corporate profits.
- They say, single payer is a pipe dream. The real pipe dream is that we can keep on going with our current system! We are currently approaching 20% of our GDP going to cover healthcare. This represents a loss of opportunity for us to save for education, retirement and more.
The hearings on SB 562 were a sham only to give legislators political cover without voting on anything. Would California Medicare for All be difficult to achieve? Of course, nothing transformational is ever easy. But political will, market reform and honest and public discussions are essential. None of which we have seen so far.
“Band Aids and Scotch Tape” bills are meant to do only one thing: Delay a real, concerted effort to enact true healthcare reform for another 10 or more years in California.
How many Californians have to die before our legislators step up and give us what we want? Guaranteed, affordable, comprehensive health care is within reach.
—Andrew McGuire
Executive Director, California OneCare & HEAL California
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