Should we continue the fight for Single Payer health care?

Many have asked: “Since President Obama signed the bill for health insurance reform, is it still necessary to pursue single payer health care in California?”

The answer is a resounding, “Yes!”

Why? Because Single Payer (California OneCare) is the inevitable solution to the health care crisis!

While passage of federal health insurance reform was a monumental political achievement, the political fight was brutal, protracted and, in the end, worth the effort.  It’s a first step that provides key benefits to millions. Yet, much more must be accomplished with considerable effort.

We believe that simply “tinkering” with the federal law will not work.  Rather, we believe enacting single payer legislation in California as soon as possible is essential to achieving true health care reform in the nation.



Here’s why we must pass single-payer Senate Bill 810:



1. We need Universal Care NOW. After full implementation of the federal health insurance reform, there will still be over 20,000,000 people uninsured in the U.S. Likely, nearly 3,000,000 Californians will remain uninsured.


2. We need Comprehensive Care NOW. After full implementation, we will still have nearly 18,000 deaths annually in the U.S. because men, women and children remain uninsured.


3. We Need Competitive Drug Pricing NOW. Drug companies are still completely free to charge whatever they want, and market however they want. The federal law prohibits negotiating with drug companies for lower prices for 12 years.
4.  Seniors Need Competitive Drug Pricing NOW. The payment gap (for those who know the jargon, the “Doughnut Hole”) in Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage will be gradually filled in, but not completely until 2020.
5. We Need Full Care, For ALL, NOW. The law provides no concrete definition of a standard benefits package that must be offered by private insurance companies. Although, in 2014, millions of Americans will be mandated to purchase private insurance policies, the benefits are “to be determined.”


6. We Need To Stop Insurance Company Lobbying Power, NOW. Because of the new federal “mandate,” the private insurance companies will be provided over 30,000,000 new customers, partially subsidized by the government, which will increase the profits and economic and political power of the insurance industry.
7. We Can Cut Health Care Costs, NOW. There are no adequate healthcare cost controls in the federal law.
8. We Can Have Affordable Health Care, NOW. Instead, insurance companies will be allowed to charge three times more for coverage based on age.
9. We Want Choice of Doctor, NOW. For most, in the federal law, there is no choice of doctor. You get the doctors from the stable provided by your insurance corporation, or you pay extra to go outside the network.


10. We Can Make California Number One Again. There are many other reasons to enact Senate Bill 810 based on inadequacies in the federal law.  But the primary reason to pass California OneCare is that it will save everyone money, everyone is fully covered and everyone will have their choice of doctor. And, most importantly, it is the only moral and just health policy that has been proven in country after country. The U.S. stands alone by having a profit driven health insurance system.  We can change this first in California. With your help, we will win.

California OneCare. Full Care, For All, For Less.