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 economic crisis has laid bare the inherent failures and inequities of our current healthcare system; people of color and underserved communities have disproportionately paid with their lives, and the social and economic destruction caused by the pandemic was only made worse under an employer-based system not designed to deliver healthcare to everyone; and

WHEREAS, World Health Organization Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, and even the California Democratic Party Platform have all noted at times that “health care is a human right, not a privilege,” and in these times and with more open-minded leadership in the White House, now more than ever, California, a leader in policy and innovation needs to be a leader in delivering healthcare for all by offering single-payer system, as was a central promise made by Governor Gavin Newsom; and

WHEREAS, under the favorable conditions of newly appointed Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a self-proclaimed single-payer supporter Governor Gavin Newsom has the opportunity to apply for the 1332 State Innovation Waiver afforded under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and any other applicable waivers needed to pursue a single-payer healthcare system and the application for and granting of these waivers will allow California to innovate to help solve some of its most pressing problems such as the current health care emergency.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the California Democratic Party supports Governor Newsom’s past efforts to negotiate with the federal Health and Human Services (HHS) Department to obtain federal resources and support to implement a single-payer health care system in the state of California and urges his office to lead these efforts again in the first year of the Biden Administration including filing a Section 1332 State Innovation Waiver, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, California State Democratic Party urges California officials at the state, local and federal level to actualize our Party values by supporting California’s 1332 State Innovation Waiver application efforts.

Authors: Betty Doumas-Toto, AD 45, Dr. Bill Honigman, AD 68, Ruth Carter AD 10, Maribel Nunez AD 61,Sponsors: : Betty Doumas-Toto, AD 45, Dr. Bill Honigman, AD 68, Ruth Carter AD 10, Maribel Nunez AD 61, Tisa Rodriguez, AD 61, Marin County DCCC, Riverside County, DCCC, Orange County DCCC, Los Angeles County DCCC, Region 16, et al.