8 minute read
Newsom promised big on California health care. Where do his bold plans stand now?
Early on, and even in his campaigns, everyone could tell that Newsom was more into championing healthcare more than any other thing. And ye he was and he did, well at least he tried. In fact, in January of last year, Newsom unveiled his big healthcare plans, an ambitious plan it was called! So ambitious that he intended on getting every Californian health care coverage! California’s health care system isn’t the best in the world and if there is one ‘positive’ outcome of the Covid-19 is that it uncovered the flaws in a supposed perfect system, but to be fair, it wasn’t just in California, but everywhere - globally! While this wasn’t something unique for the state, some things were rising prescription costs, shortage of health care workers,s and a rising cost of health care!
It seems Newsom had discovered this early one because to of his healthcare agendas was affordable medication and universal, state-funded health care. In addition, he had a plan to create a blueprint that would ensure that California’s growing population of seniors is better served. That was in 2019 and could the plan have worked, California’s health care system would have been unmatched!
ENTER COVID-19
Its been almost 3 years since Newsom took over the governorship of California. Because of the COVID-19, which we are still in the thick of it, given the rise of a new deadly variant - the Delta Variant,
the governor had to put his ambitious health care plan aside to deal with the pandemic. Ever since, so little has been done about his affordable medication and universal, state-funded health care. In addition, there are his plans for the seniors. In a nutshell, if the governor was to actualize this plan, it would take ten years, at least which means, this might come after his term ends.
The $47 billion health care agenda which was mainly backed up by steady economic growth sought three things in particular;
• Expand the millions of undocumented immigrants covered by Medicaid. • Help California in its efforts to manufacture its own drugs. • Expand Medicaid programs to address issues like mental health and addiction treatment as well as cater for chronic homelessness.
Soon after the Pandemic hit, it dawned on the Californians that the governor’s plan would have to be put aside. In fact, the governor warned of a “budgetary crisis that is starting to manifest.” About his plans, he said that they had to be “recalibrated.”
However, the Democrats are having none of that. In fact, many were not convinced that they had to abandon the plan.
“If those workers providing the products, the services, the food that we eat don’t have health care, we’re all in danger,” said state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), who has pressed Newsom to expand Medicaid coverage to unauthorized immigrants ages 65 and up. “Our reasoning is a lot stronger now because if they don’t have health care, it weakens our ability to stop the spread of COVID-19.”
In addition, health advocates have also come out to support and praise the governor’s efforts. However, some are less optimistic about Newsom’s ability to deliver these goals especially creating a statefunded, Single-payer healthcare system.
“It’s important not to lose sight of some historic steps taken in expanding coverage,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego. “But to be clear he campaigned on a singlepayer pledge that a lot of people didn’t think was realistic, and I think the last few years have shown us that it will be incredibly hard to achieve.”
The Dilemma in Single-payer healthcare system The Californian who supported the governor in his bid for the gubernatorial seat now demands that the Governor keep his campaign promises and take a progressive step in making the singlepayer healthcare system a reality.
For years now, Californians have been calling for a move away from private insurance and for the government to take on all the health care responsibilities, and they are not about to give up now. Progressive state advocates, including the prominent labor union California Nurses Association, now drive the motion to make the governor make good on his word.
“We don’t really have a public health system,”
said Shirley Toy, a retired nurse and an organizer with the Sacramento chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. “Some peoples’ lives seem to count and some peoples’ don’t, and it’s just very sad.”
One thing that is for sure, this system is not cheap, and in addition, critics of the system say that getting everyone covered will not ensure timely and equitable access to healthcare.
The political pressure has been insurmountable, and taking the lead earlier this year, Democratic Assemblymember Ash Kalra from San Jose introduced legislation meant to push the state towards adopting a single-payer system. While the legislation by Ash is good in so many ways, it leaves out so many critical details for instance; • How hospitals will be paid and how much. • How much the doctors, nurses, and caregivers will actually be paid. • How to effectively reroute the federal healthcare dollars into a single program - a governing body in charge of the system. • Lastly, this legislation doesn’t state its funding source.
These pressures come at a bad time for the governor especially with the recent build-up of the recall campaign becoming inevitable. Still, even if it was possible, scrapping the entire state’s healthcare system only to replace it with a statesponsored program could cost more than the budgeted amount. The conflict for and against the single-payer system and also the many recalls presents a vexing problem for the governor.
According to Thad Kousser a University of California San Diego political science professor, for the governor to o=move forward, there will be two theories to contend with:
THEORY NUMBER 1
THEORY NUMBER 2
Still, proponents of a single-payer system say that there aren’t really any conflicting issues when it comes to the system because a state-funded system is already very popular. In fact, polls regularly echo this statement showing that many Californians support the single-payer system.
A 2020 UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll showed that 55 percent of registered California voters surveyed either somewhat or strongly agreed that the single-payer system “would improve the nation’s ability to respond to disasters and pandemics such as COVID-19.”
DO WE REALLY NEED TO SCRAP OFF THE EXISTING HEALTH CARE SYSTEM?
I mean its working and its what Californians have been used to. It may not be perfect but, it is working and i think that matters. Some analysts and consultants believe thatthe reults from the poll are overstating the public’s interest in this matter. One of them is Garry South, a Democratic political consultant who says, “‘Do you think that health care is a right and not a privilege and that every American or every Californian should have health insurance?” you’re going to get an overwhelmingly strong response, South said. But those ideals often come with another set of convictions, he said: “In achieving that, don’t ask me to give up anything. Don’t ask me to give up my private health insurance. Don’t ask me to pay more in taxes.”
He continues to emphasize that the state governments main priority should be to expand the health insurance coverage both in the private and public sectors. So many people seem to be paying too much attention to technical terminologies rather than what matters. “It’s not about some other terminology you want to stick on it. It’s about universal coverage,” South added.
However, be that as it may, the fight in the Democrat’s camp is more than the technical terms. They argue that the only way the state will be able to provide cost effective insurance coverage to everyone is through a universal, state funded program, but according to a report by Kaiser Family Foundation, some 7.8% of californians in 2019 had no health insurance cover which by the way is down by a whooping 17.2% from 2013 data, which was largely due to Californians embracing the Affordable Care Act. For many supporters, the current health crisis only highlights the need for radical changes in the health system. “If there’s an argument for single payer it’s certainly the pandemic…the current system doesn’t work,” said Michael Lighty, a policy consultant working for the National Union of Healthcare. But, critics of the same seem to have a convincing case against the single payer system. They argue that much like the flimsy rollout of the Covid-19 Vaccines and the humiliating failure of the State’s Employment Development Departmet, Californians should think really hard before entrusting the the healthcare docket to the state. “People in general have a pretty jaundiced view of government’s ability to deliver,” said South.
How this will all end, i guess we’ll have to wait and see. And i think the Governor needs to take charge and become more visible and vocal about his plans. Remember, he was voted for by many Californians because of his ambitious plans and i d not think it would be fair to just leave things as they are. I also think that the plan hasnt really been carefully thought through. Many health advocates have also called for the healthcare system to be more robust and provide coverage for everyone because as it stands out, undocumented minorities are the ones taking huge blows from this failing system.
Sources; https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/04/29/with-latestcalifornia-single-payer-health-care-bill-shelved-advocatespush-newsom-for-support/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_a4d5603b 1615893d0848933dacb61dc21a2466f4-1628262489-0gqNtZGzNAqKjcnBszQnO https://californiahealthline.org/news/newsoms-ambitious-healthcare-agenda-crumbles-in-a-radically-changed-world/ https://calmatters.org/health/2021/07/california-health-newsom/ https://calmatters.org/politics/2021/02/newsom-single-payerhealth-care-dilemma/
