{"id":22176,"date":"2022-04-27T12:17:18","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T19:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=22176"},"modified":"2022-04-27T12:17:19","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T19:17:19","slug":"the-ball-is-back-in-newsoms-court-on-single-payer-health-care-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2022\/04\/27\/the-ball-is-back-in-newsoms-court-on-single-payer-health-care-in-california\/","title":{"rendered":"The ball is back in Newsom\u2019s court on single-payer health care in California"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>Sophia Bollag<\/a> April 25, 2022 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gov.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announces new state actions to protect Californians amid rising cases of COVID-19 and the new Omicron variant during a press conference at the Native American Health Center in Oakland, Calif. on Dec. 22, 2021.Bront\u00eb Wittpenn\/The Chronicle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The ball is back in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s<\/a> court when it comes to creating a single-payer health<\/a> care system in California<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January, when Newsom was asked if he supported a bill to create a universal, government-run health care system in California, he dodged the question, saying he was waiting for a report from a state commission studying the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, the commission finalized that report, which found that health care costs will skyrocket <\/a>by 30% in nine years under the current system and advocates an overhaul that would eliminate distinctions among private and government coverage, in favor of a new system to provide health care to all Californians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Democratic governor has long said he supports creating such a system in California but has not endorsed specific legislation to do so. Now that the report is out, it\u2019s not clear what steps he may take to get there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been following the progress of the commission\u2019s work, and look forward to reviewing and discussing the final report with the Legislature and stakeholders,\u201d Newsom spokesman Alex Stack wrote in a statement. He pointed to other ways the governor has worked to expand health care access, including by expanding eligibility for the state\u2019s health coverage to more undocumented immigrants<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newsom\u2019s secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mark Ghaly, chaired the commission and committed in the report to assign staff to coordinate with President Joe Biden\u2019s administration. That\u2019s a significant step toward overhauling California\u2019s health care system, advocates say, because the state would need approval to repurpose the billions of federal dollars that flow into the current system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat’s really the key next step, and depends upon the governor’s leadership,\u201d said Michael Lighty, a consultant working with the National Union of Healthcare Workers to advocate for a single-payer system. \u201cThis is really a new day for health care reform in California.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission\u2019s report stops short of explicitly endorsing a universal, government-run health system in California, as proponents of so-called single-payer health care had hoped, and instead leaves the door open for private health insurers to have some role in a new system. But the report does endorse a major shakeup to a \u201cunified financing\u201d system. The report outlines several options for how that system could look, including a \u201csingle-payer\u201d system that would eliminate private insurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carmen Comsti of the National Nurses United union, was the lone commissioner to vote against sending the report to Newsom and the Legislature on Monday, arguing it didn\u2019t go far enough in specifically recommending to the Legislature how to implement single-payer in California.More for you<\/p>\n\n\n\n