IN THIS EPISODE
Health care in America remains marked by disparities and spiraling costs twelve years after passage of the Affordable Care Act. Given the divisive political climate in Washington DC, states are struggling to work out their own solutions. Governor Gavin Newsom’s Healthy California for All Commission studied the problem for two years and released an eye-opening report detailing how single payer would save 40,000 lives and half a trillion dollars over the next decade while supporting equal access to care. But how would this plan affect businesses and employees?
To find out, join Ian Lewis, political & research director at the National Union of Healthcare Workers, and host Brenda Gazzar for this second of two podcasts on the challenges and benefits of transitioning to single payer.
SHOW NOTES
WE DISCUSS
How would switching to single payer affect businesses?
“…with the huge savings that we could realize with single-payer health care, the long-term benefits for all businesses are tremendous…” – Ian Lewis
But what would happen to the people who work in the insurance industry?
“The kind of jobs that will be eliminated…are mostly the administrative ones, the paper shuffling, the processing of claims…Now, those job losses will be offset some by the creation of a single administrative system, but the simplification, the elimination of claims and adjustment proceedings and appeals and so forth, those kinds of jobs open up the opportunity to train people in, you know, what I see as the jobs of the future, you know, health care…”
“…the economic stimulus that comes with injecting tens and eventually hundreds of billions of dollars more money into the rest of the economy, which is not health care, will unleash real job creation in other industries.” – Ian Lewis
Do you think single payer is actually within reach?
“I just say I’m more optimistic than I’ve ever been about the promise of transitioning to a single-payer health system…This report, it’s very technical. It’s wordy, it’s long and it hasn’t received a lot of coverage, but it lays out a roadmap that if we choose to, we can follow and I really believe that by pointing that way, it provides us hope. That’s the biggest obstacle I see to reform…the lack of hope..” – Ian Lewis
Helpful Links
REPORT CLAIMS ‘UNIFIED FINANCING’ COULD SAVE CA $500B OVER 10 YEARS Health Leaders Media
Key Design Considerations for a Unified Health Care Financing System in California, pages 29 – 33, Healthy California for All Commission
Sustained & Robust Support for Single Payer in California, Physicians for a National Health Program/Health Justice Monitor
Could California’s single-payer proposal reignite debate on health care reform? ABC News
Healthy California for All Commission
National Union of Healthcare Workers
Episode Transcript
Read the full episode transcript.
Guest Biography
Ian Lewis is Research & Political Director for the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
He has been in the labor movement for twenty five years, much of that time making the best of a broken health care system for low wage workers.
Ian’s experience includes bargaining for health benefits in both the US and Canada, administration of not-for-profit health funds, as well as regulatory and legislative strategies.
He has been closely involved in efforts by the Healthy California Now coalition to win Medicare for All in California.
Get Involved / Take Action
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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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