IN THIS EPISODE
With all the hand-wringing about the cost of single payer, it’s time to ask if California can keep paying the price for the fragmented healthcare system we have today.
Listen and check out the surprising answer in this first podcast of two featuring Ian Lewis, political & research director at the National Union of Healthcare Workers and host Brenda Gazzar as they do the math on healthcare systems in the Golden State. Has our thinking on this been wrong all along?
SHOW NOTES
WE DISCUSS
Can California really afford to keep the healthcare system we have now?
“…the state is spending well over half a trillion dollars every year right now for health care services, and the most shocking number is what is going to happen if we don’t embrace single payer in California. By 10 years from today, instead of spending half a trillion dollars on health care for Californians, that number’s going to go up by another $158 billion per year. And that doesn’t count inflation.” – Ian Lewis
What would that mean cost-wise for the average family?
“…the average family would have to shell out an additional $1,300 a month out of their family budget 10 years from now, if we don’t head down the track of single payer or Medicare for All,” – Ian Lewis
But a single-payer system would mean higher taxes, right?
“…by eliminating the huge insurance industry bureaucracy, the administrative overhead, the corporate profits that insurers suck down as middle people in health purchasing, also by getting our arms around the huge prices that pharmaceutical corporations are able to charge right now, as well as getting people the care they need in the time they need it.
By doing all of those things, we can save a huge amount of money. Now, that means we’ll be spending more in taxes. That’s true, but conversely, we’ll be spending a lot less in paying out of pocket or through our employers…for our health benefits as we are today. So those savings ultimately get passed on to Californians…” – Ian Lewis
How can we make sure federal and state dollars that are already being spent continue to flow into California’s single-payer plan?
“If we’re going to create a true universal healthcare system in California, we need to tap into the resources that the federal government is already spending. They’re collecting that money from Californians in the form of taxes. We need to get it back in order to pick up the bill for what they’re paying for today.
And so one of the immediate next steps out of the commission’s report and something NUHW has been advocating for, for quite some time, is that we have to engage the federal government, the Biden administration, in discussions about how this transition is going to happen with federal support.” – Ian Lewis
Helpful Links
Public money accounts for more than 70 percent of health care spending in California UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
National Union of Healthcare Workers
Key Design Considerations for a Unified Health Care Financing System in California, pages 29 – 33, Healthy California for All Commission
Healthy California for All Commission
California Can Save As Much As $500 billion In Healthcare Costs Over the Next Decade Healthy California Now
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
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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