Introducing Betty Doumas-Toto, our most recent unsung hero of healthcare reform! This project of HEAL California highlights the hard work and dedication of individuals who are working – often in the background – to win Medicare-for-All in California and the nation.
For Betty Doumas-Toto, the “gig economy” started years before the term became synonymous with tech companies, freelance work and Millennials.
As small-business owners in the film production industry, Betty and her husband Vincent found that one of their big challenges has been healthcare. That’s what prompted her to advocate for Medicare for All.
“It’s always been difficult for us,” she said. “It’s been extremely expensive, but that’s not all. Before some of the protections under the Affordable Care Act, it was frightening at times because if you had anything pre-existing, you might not even get insurance. You might not be able to renew insurance. We’ve always been in this situation, which many Americans are not because they’re bound by their jobs. They’re bound by their jobs for their health insurance pretty much whether they want to be or not.”
A few years ago, Doumas-Toto became the San Fernando Valley regional coordinator for the Healthy California Campaign.
Today she serves as the healthcare committee co-chairwoman for Americans for Democratic Action, Southern California Chapter.
A Los Angeles resident, Doumas-Toto has been an advocate for healthcare reform for years, although mostly in private. In the mid-2000s, she went public. . .
World travel opened her eyes
She and her husband had traveled the world and saw firsthand the healthcare systems in Europe and other countries. They were struck by the difference mainly when they collaborated with others. She said people in other countries who are guaranteed healthcare (mostly by means of single payer systems) have a certain freedom.
For example, they have the freedom to pursue occupations that are fulfilling on many levels, regardless of health insurance. In those countries you don’t necessarily have be wealthy to choose a creative occupation, to choose an occupation in the public or nonprofit sector, to innovate. To Betty, that sounded like the “American Dream” where you have the freedom and potential to succeed in life. She realized the American Dream was disappearing for poor and middle class Americans.
“Having single payer gives people in other countries piece of mind even though they might not realize it. We could see it because we knew our struggles, balancing exorbitant monthly health insurance premiums while pursuing the type of work we do. We were trying to keep up with ever-rising monthly premiums. We could see that our colleagues living in other countries didn’t even give one thought to the expense of healthcare, much less to the possibility of going without it. People in other countries believe that healthcare is a moral imperative and a right for all. These countries have structured their healthcare systems to deliver healthcare to all, and at a lower cost than we do.”
What about young people?
Doumas-Toto compared her healthcare challenges to what Millennials are facing today in the workforce. They come out of school with student debt, scramble to find decent paying jobs, many of which don’t offer health insurance, and pay for the escalating costs of living, especially housing.
“They end up in the gig economy where they’re just working job to job, which my husband and I have been doing for many, many years, so we understand the plight of the younger generations. They will be dealing with healthcare, access and cost, like we have. It’s not fun, trust me.”
Politicians are failing us
She saw how repeated attempts by California single payer advocates in the 2000s were vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “All the work that activists and advocates put in, and for it to be killed. For something that would help everybody. That would help all Americans, that would save lives and save money. That was so discouraging.”
While the ACA has helped, she views it as an unsustainable model and a giveaway to insurance companies. “It’s ridiculous when you look at it and see what I pay into it. My premiums are a little bit less than what I was paying before the ACA. When you break it down, and you see how much money is being subsidized by our taxes – money that goes to the health insurance companies – and then how much I pay on top of that, it’s insane.”
On top of the cost, she’s watched the few ACA protections that really mattered, such as pre-existing condition coverage, being threatened by the Trump administration.
“We have to get a better system now. We can’t afford to wait, especially with the growing gig economy. There is no way we’re going to be able to afford healthcare if it keeps going like this. We had a bill, SB562, the Healthy California Act, passed by the California Senate in 2017. But the bill was shelved by the “Democratic” Speaker of the Assembly, Anthony Rendon.”
The media must tell the whole truth
Doumas-Toto said the media must play its part as well. Not in a biased way, but by refusing to automatically parrot what the opponents of Medicare for All say.
“It doesn’t take a huge leap to say, ‘Since we’ve done a certain number of human interest stories about people who are suffering in our system, maybe we should take the extra step of actually reaching out to Medicare for All advocates, and ask them to come on and talk about how it could help.’”
“It’s all there,” she said, “we see it every day. How many more special interest stories do people have to see before they say, what can we do about it? How many more TV shows, commercials, movies that depict the plight of Americans not able to afford healthcare, going bankrupt because of healthcare costs, being denied coverage and care from health insurance administrators (untrained as physicians) does there have to be?”
“Nobody is really telling the public that there’s a true solution to our healthcare crisis. Journalists in California have a responsibility to do their work unbound by their corporate media owners. They need to investigate and report how Medicare for All would benefit all Californians and Americans. Mainstream journalists are failing to take the next step. They need to go and talk to all the people who were part of the Healthy California coalition, including individuals, coalition members and healthcare for all advocacy groups. If journalists would actually take the next step and really, really write some good stories, do some good investigative journalism, that would be helpful.
Despite the setbacks, well-funded opposition, and lack of accuracy and media coverage, Doumas-Toto is still optimistic.
The movement is growing!
“I think the movement for Medicare for All is moving way faster than it did even five years ago. It’s moving way faster. And I’m not talking out of a bubble. There are many people in many different communities that I speak to and all of these people are coming together. There’s a change.”
One thing that she said could be done better would be to target the particular groups that are taking the brunt of paying for this dysfunctional system. The movement needs to educate these people across a spectrum, political spectrum, economic spectrum, wherever, and get them to understand. The movement would win more support.
“I think if we can get our message to the middle income and middle aged groups, to the people who have children that are now becoming independent, it would make the movement more powerful and influential.”
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HEAL California is an independent news and information hub focused on the California Medicare for All movement. We feature non-partisan news, views, podcasts and videos that highlight the continuing failures of our broken healthcare system and elevate the voices of advocates and organizations fighting for change.
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