The Independent View: The Many Faces of Universal Healthcare

We're witnessing an historic moment in the movement for Universal Single-Payer Healthcare. In Washington DC, 122 House Democrats are Co-Sponsoring the Single-Payer Healthcare Bill (HR 676), now sponsored by Rep. Keith Ellison, and 16 Senate Democrats are Co-Sponsoring Senator Bernie Sanders’ (D-VT) Medicare-for-All Bill (SB 1804).

The New York State Legislature is just a handful of Senators away from a Majority Co-Sponsoring the New York Health Act. This Single-Payer Bill will Return Medical Decision-making to Doctors, Patients, Science, and Public Health. It has Passed the Assembly Three years in a Row, and last year Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his support for a Single-Payer Health Plan.

Why do Physicians Support the New York Health Act?

It will:

- Give All Patients the same Access to Care and Improve Health Outcomes

- Reduce the Medical Complications that arise when Patients Delay Care for fear of Cost.

- Let Physicians spend more time Caring for Patients and less time Filling out Forms.

- Free Physicians to Practice Medicine based on Scientific Research and Clinical Training, instead of being constrained by Insurance Denials and Patients’ Inability to Access to Tests and Treatments.

- Simplify the Practice of Medicine and Mitigate many Factors that Contribute to Physician Burnout'

- Create a Single Insurer that is Accountable to Health of the People of New York, not Insurance Company Shareholders and Profits.

A Proposal to adopt a California Single-Payer Healthcare system took an initial step forward when the State Senate Approved a Bare-Bones Bill that lacks a method for Paying the $400-Billion cost of the Plan in June 2017. The Proposal was made by Legislators led by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens). “Despite the incredible progress California has made, millions still do not have access to health insurance and millions more cannot afford the high deductibles and co-pays, and they often forgo care,” Lara said during a Floor Debate on the Bill. The Bill, went to the State Assembly for Consideration, will have to be further Developed, Lara conceded, adding he hopes to reach a Consensus on a way to pay for it.

Republican Senators opposed the Bill as a Threat to the State’s Finances. “We don’t have the money to pay for it,” Sen. Tom Berryhill (R-Modesto) said. “If we cut every single program and expense from the state budget and redirected that money to this bill, SB 562, we wouldn’t even cover half of the $400-billion price tag.” Berryhill also said the Private Sector is better suited to provide Healthcare. “I absolutely don’t trust the government to run our health system,” he said. “What has the government ever done right?”

Lara’s Bill would provide a Medicare-for-All type system that he believed would guarantee Health Coverage for all Californians without the Out-of-Pocket Costs. Under a Single-Payer plan, the Government replaces Private Insurance companies, Paying Doctors and Hospitals for Healthcare. The California Nurses Assn., which Sponsored the Bill, released a Fiscal Analysis that Proposed raising the State Sales and Business Receipts Taxes by 2.3% to raise $106 Billion of the Annual Cost, with the rest proposed to come from State and Federal Funding already going to Medicare and Medicaid services.

Some Democrats felt the Bill was Rushed and Undeveloped. Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) withheld his Vote on the Bill on grounds it does not provide enough Detail of what a Single-Payer system would look like. “This is the Senate kicking the can down the road to the Assembly and asking the Assembly to fill in all of the blanks,” Hueso said. “That’s not going to happen this year.”

Lara said action is required because of what is happening in Washington. “With President Trump’s promise to abandon the Affordable Care Act as we know it — for one that leaves millions without access to care — California is once again tasked to lead," he told his Colleagues.

Even if the bill is approved, it has to go to Gov. Jerry Brown, who has been skeptical, and then Voters would have to Exempt It from Spending Limits and Budget Formulas in the State Constitution. In addition, the State would have to get Federal Approval to Repurpose Existing Funds for Medicare and Medicaid.

March 26th, 2018, in lieu of Advancing a Single-Payer Health Care Bill, California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon tasked Lawmakers with Creating an Alternative Package of Healthcare Bills to make Universal Coverage more attainable.

These 14 Bills were released on Friday.

They’re meant to help People Pay for Insurance Premiums, get Health Insurers to put more Money towards Patient Care and Expand Medi-Cal Coverage to Undocumented Immigrants, among other Goals.

The Package of Bills has received Pushback from both directions. The California Nurses Association, a Lead Sponsor of the Single-Payer Bill, says this is an Impractical Alternative to what should be a Unified Solution. The criticism from the other side is where the Money will come from to Pay for the proposed Programs and Coverage. Without a source of Funding, it’s unclear whether Governor Jerry Brown would approve the Bills.