Author: HealthyCA

The August 19th podcast features Michael Lighty, president of Healthy California Now. More about the Code WACK! podcast at HEAL California

From our friends at Health Justice Monitor: I Studied Five Countries’ Health Care Systems. We Need to Get More Creative With Ours. New York Times June 14, 2023 By Aaron E. Carroll [H]ealth care reform doesn’t seem to be a top...

SACRAMENTO — In a major step toward groundbreaking reform of California’s healthcare financing and delivery system, the State Senate passed SB 770 on Thursday by a vote of 30 aye to 9 no.  The bill, authored by...

The April 23rd podcast features Michael Lighty, president of Healthy California Now. More about the Code WACK! podcast at HEAL California

From our friends at Health Justice Monitor: New bill would pressure Newsom to speed up work on single-payer health care San Francisco Chronicle March 21, 2023 By Sophia Bollag Gov. Gavin Newsom would face new deadlines on his...

The letter was featured on the main page of the Chronicle website today! Regarding “New bill would pressure Newsom to speed up work on single-payer health care” (Politics, SFChronicle.com, March 21): The “hefty tax increase”...

Our work to guarantee healthcare for all has always included ensuring patients have access to the mental healthcare they need. Right now, our friends at National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) are holding the line for...

This week we all were stunned to see the leaked Supreme Court draft decision that is poised to overturn the right to safe abortions completely. As a movement committed to healthcare justice for all, abortion and reproductive...

Summary of “Key Design Considerations for a Unified Health Care Financing System in California”Healthy California for All Commission Final ReportApril 2022 This report reflects a deliberative and comprehensive investigation and...

Health Care for All California has a comprehensive and illustrated document called the “History of California Single Payer Legislation & Movement: 1997 – 2024” (updated September 4, 2024), prepared by long-time...

Healthy California Now president Michael Lighty wrote an opinion piece for Common Dreams, asking the question why hasn’t the overwhelming popularity of Medicare for All—85% of Democrats, 66% of independents and 52% (!) of...

“Tune in for expert analysis of the latest legislative developments on Assembly Bill 1400, the California Guaranteed Health Care Act! Join host Brenda Gazzar and Michael Lighty, president of Healthy California Now, as he...

On Tuesday, Healthy California Now and NUHW brought together Latinx leaders from across the state to discuss the intersection of health within the Latinx and immigrant communities. Watch the video above to hear from a diverse...

SACRAMENTO — Healthy California Now, a coalition of more than 60 health care, labor and community organizations on Sunday endorsed AB 1400 (Kalra) ahead of a key hearing Tuesday in the Assembly Health Committee. AB 1400 would...

The movement for healthcare justice showed up for the recall to make sure California moves forward and Gavin Newsom can fulfill his promise to make California the first Medicare For All state in the nation! Our movement cannot...

Ed Asner was a champion for single payer healthcare, helping to create California OneCare which remains active today using media and bringing in entertainment industry support for our movement. Health Care for All California...

Here’s a useful expose of the failure of the ACO (so-called Accountable Care Organization) model to save money. Healthy California Now has long been clear that these entities that create incentives to deny care have no...

Healthy California Now (HCN) is proud to promote Health Justice Monitor, a highly informative blog produced by members of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP), which features the latest health policy developments with...

The just released Commonwealth Fund report comparing US Healthcare to other high-income countries ranks us last. In fact, the report says the US is such an outlier that it was excluded from the calculations of average...

A Dolores Huerta / Ro Khanna op-ed ran in the Sacramento Bee: If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that we need “Medicare for All” in California. California has a proud tradition of leading the nation to...

The question of single-payer is not “if” but when, and how. Here at Healthy California Now, we just released a report detailing the economic and policy considerations in designing a single payer system in California. The release...

“We must join other major countries in guaranteeing healthcare for all and pass Medicare for All.” — Sen. Bernie Sanders Read more on commondreams.org

Medicare for All advocate Rebecca Wood tells a heart-wrenching story of how the healthcare industry fails to provide the care we need. “My claim was denied. I called again to inquire why. This time, no one could tell me....

156 House Democrats sign a letter supporting the expansion. “A large coalition of House Democrats launched a campaign to ramp up pressure on President Biden, calling on him to follow through with a campaign promise and...

Reports from Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post among others indicate a revived effort to enact “Public Option” proposals. Unfortunately, these proposals do not solve the fundamental problems of cost and equity plaguing...

No legislation is needed for Gov. Newsom to initiate talks with Biden Administration A recent memo you received regarding AB 1400 (CalCare) may give an incorrect impression that no progress can be made on achieving Medicare for...

Overwhelming support among progressives, liberals, and the entire range of Democrats makes renewed push for universal health care a powerful boost for Democratic candidates A new statewide survey of 800 California likely voters...

RESOLUTION 21-04.104 Time to Move on Single-Payer Governor Newsom Urged To Start The Waiver Application Process Allowing California to Implement a Single-Payer Healthcare System WHEREAS, the dual COVID-19 Pandemic and resulting...

The California Health Benefits Review Program (CHBRP) yesterday published an analysis of AB 1400, a bill that would establish a single payer health system covering all the state’s residents. Healthy California NOW welcomes...

Healthy California Now is a statewide coalition of organizations and activists dedicated to establishing a single-payer, Medicare For All system in California. The question of single-payer is not “why” but when, and...

Let’s start with the basics: what is single-payer healthcare, and why is it beneficial to the typical, working Californian? Michael Lighty: When we say “single payer” we mean a Medicare for All-style program...

The New York Times wrote about Becerra’s ability to approve the waiver process: “Xavier Becerra has long supported moving the United States to a ‘Medicare for All’ system. As President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to run Health...

What are the prospects for single payer in California? What role might the Healthy California for All Commission play in the future of the state’s healthcare system? What about Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature? Michael...

In this two-minute video, the Economic Policy Institute’s Director of Research explains how Medicare for All would be good for jobs (and...

A Commonwealth Fund analysis shows that Americans’ experience of economic hardship, their mental health concerns, and their opinion of government leaders during the pandemic varied by race, gender, and income. Read the analysis...

Is healthcare inequality more evident to America’s mayors than to federal representatives? How differently might the pandemic have played out if Medicare for All had already been in place? Did the link between employment and...

Why have two California mayors joined forces to launch Mayors for Medicare for All? How are American cities “laboratories for democracy?” How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected local communities? Libby Schaaf,...

Will “a little bit of this and a little bit of that” solve America’s healthcare problems? Is COVID-19 a game-changer in the fight for single-payer? In this first episode of a podcast series with host Brenda Gazzar, Michael...

What’s holding the U.S. back from Medicare for All? (Hint: It’s not just Trump.) What about California? In this second episode in a podcast series with host Brenda Gazzar, Michael Lighty, founding fellow of the Sanders Institute...

116 delegates elected to represent California at the Democratic National Convention issued an open letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday to demand an up-or-down floor vote on the Medicare for All Act before the November...

The commissioner addresses the “An Environmental Analysis of Health Care Delivery Coverage and Financing (DRAFT)” Report, which can be found at chhs.ca.gov (PDF). Rupa Marya responded to the analysis via...

Find regularly-updated coronavirus tracking numbers—both confirmed cases and deaths—for the state of California. View the project on latimes.com.

How a “reform” that was supposed to “promote accountability” and save money actually wound up making health care more expensive and inaccessible to those who need it most. An op-ed by Dr. Stephen B. Kemble notes the positive and...

The continued trajectory of increasing per capita spending on U.S. health care threatens the stability of our current system when we can least afford it. Read more at acpjournals.org.

Physical Resources Available for Care at Hospitals Serving People of Color and Other U.S. Hospitals See pnhp.org for more.

The study revealed 70% of business owners either supported or strongly supported a single-payer system. That support was nearly unanimous among Democrats, at 96%, compared to 37% of Republicans. Read more on...

Job loss claims are misleading, and substantial boosts to job quality are often over-looked. Read more on epi.org.

“COVID will not break us. It will only reveal to us what is already broken.” Read more on statnews.com.

An active rank-and-file union member of SEIU 1021 and an active member of East Bay Democratic Socialists of America speaks out. Read more on jacobinmag.com.

“Interestingly, it will be much easier to enact Medicare for All than the current effort to create a vaccine for COVID-19. Which, when available, will only be for some. Because of white supremacy, institutional racism,...

“I think health care is protected from this broader discourse because the narrative is that we’re all heroes. We don’t actually address that the structure being perpetuated in health care is the same dynamic that’s playing...

Dr. Tony Iton joins Code WACK! to discuss America’s long history of racism and both its impact on healthcare reform and on our fragmented response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Listen to the podcast or read the transcript...

“Health is impossible when living in systems of oppression. We cannot effectively treat diabetes with a drug without addressing the systems that make diabetes so present. We must redefine the scope of the work of...

Writer Ijeoma Oluo shares her commonly felt experience of racism in...

Janel Bailey, Co-Executive Director of Organizing and Programs at the Los Angeles Black Worker Center, joins this edition of Code WACK! to discuss how public policies around eviction, employment and medical exploitation combine...

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The last hearing presented two focus groups — an employer-based group and a provider-based group — both with a stated preference for a multi-payer system. But the presence of healthcare activists, who took over the...

During our July 2020 meeting, Healthy California Now was honored to welcome Professor Adolph Reed, Jr. and Dr. Victoria Dooley for a discussion on racial disparities in healthcare, how and why a single-payer, Medicare for All...

Organizing works! A sincere thank you to our affiliate members and the signatories on the petition below for their efforts — it is a credit to them and our collective pressure campaign that the Healthy California for All...

Listen to the podcast with guest Dr. Tony Iton, senior vice president for Healthy Communities at The California Endowment. He explains how having a patchwork health insurance system, along with a weakened public health system,...

Listen to this podcast about how our market-based healthcare system incentivizes profits over public health investments. How would Medicare for All help us respond to future crises? The answer is more complicated than you might...

There are slide shows, activist guides, podcast, and great handouts full of reliable data. Visit pnhp.org for more.

Read more on commondreams.org.

Podcast. “Every time, I give a talk I always start by dedicating my talk to Devante Johnson, who was a child that died of a highly treatable kidney tumor … because he was uninsured.” – Dr. Ana Malinow, pediatrician and...

“It’s the combination of massive economic dislocation and a health crisis like we haven’t seen in our lifetimes. If there were ever a crisis that could propel an idea like Medicare for All, this is it.” -Larry Levitt,...

Written by Naomi Klein: “During moments of cataclysmic change, the previously unthinkable suddenly becomes reality. In recent decades, that change has mainly been for the worst — but this has not always been the case. And it...

Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline’s collaboration is by far one of the biggest in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Read more on finance.yahoo.com.

A study from Scott M. Stringer, the city comptroller, found that 75 percent of front-line workers in the city — grocery clerks, bus and train operators, janitors and child care staff — are minorities. More than 60 percent of...

“But if there is one lesson so far from the world’s response to COVID-19, it’s that the impossible has suddenly become possible. Long-standing regulatory and bureaucratic barriers to expanding telehealth, for example, have...

Patients are foregoing necessary preventive and even acute care out of fear of exposure. Medical practices are struggling to keep their doors open as volume collapses. The nation faces a second wave access crisis when the pent...

Adam Gaffney wrote the following on March 21 in The Guardian: “The debate over Medicare for All in the age of Covid-19 is complicated by the fact that it is our public health agencies – and not the medical care system – that...

Wendell Potter writes or The Guardian on March 27th: “America needs to finally get out of the business of linking health coverage to job status. Even in better times, this arrangement was a bad idea from a health...

Real News Network shared an interview on March 19th with Dr. James Kahn, “Biden is Wrong — Single Payer Healthcare does fight pandemics.” “Our current system is too expensive. It’s wasteful. We spend about $600...

Medicare for All Explained, featuring David Himmelstein, MD, is a Distinguished Professor of public health and health policy in the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College.

PANEL DISCUSSION: “Pandemics and Single-Payer: COVID-19’s Case for Medicare for All” featuring Amy Garlin, MD; Paul Song, MD; Sanjeev K. Sriram, MD, MPH Hosted by Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP), UC...

Jeff Gee, MD, a leader in the California single-payer movement, was killed on April 2, 2020 while driving to work in Santa Rosa. Jeff grew up in Los Angeles, attended San Diego State University and UCSF, and trained in family...

“We know that historically disadvantaged populations — including black and Latino patients — have a higher burden of the comorbidities traditionally used by hospitals to stratify patients by risk. This is largely because...

This review highlights a high degree of analytic consensus that single-payer financing would result in a favorable outcome for system financial burden: efficiency savings exceed added costs. Read more on Plos.org.

“‘Medicare for All isn’t politically viable’ is the refrain from the pundits. But how many non-pundits have they actually talked to about Medicare for All? Democratic Socialists of America activists have been...

William Hsiao knows more about single payer systems than pretty much any other American. What does he think about ‘Medicare for All’? Read more on Politico.com.

The gap in health administrative spending between the United States and Canada is large and widening, and it apparently reflects the inefficiencies of the U.S. private insurance–based, multipayer system. Read more on...

“In the United States, a legion of administrative healthcare workers and health insurance employees who play no direct role in providing patient care costs every American man, woman and child an average of $2,497 per year....