ASK YOUR LEGISLATORS TO TAKE ACTION

Assemblymembers Laura Friedman, David Chiu, and Ash Kalra recently published a joint letter to Governor Newsom to deliver on the promise of single payer in California. That letter is below. Please ask your assembly and senate members to do the same NOW.

You can find your legislators at findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.

Read the Letter

June 18th, 2020

The Honorable Gavin Newsom
Governor of California
State Capitol, 1st Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Governor Newsom:

As the Healthy California for All Commission (Commission) gets underway, it is our hope that it will renew the effort to put California on a path towards a single-payer type health care system.

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the inequalities in our health care system, and the barriers to affordable, quality care that have had a disproportionate impact on communities of color. When it comes to the health and well-being of our communities, we cannot continue to rely upon a system that is fragmented, costly, unjust, and inaccessible to millions.

Earlier this month, the Berkeley Institute of Government Studies poll revealed that a majority of Californians believe that a Medicare for All type system would improve the nation’s ability to respond to disasters and pandemics like COVID-19. We have an opportunity to do the necessary work to ensure that when a new administration takes over in our nation’s capital next year, we’ll be ready to become the first state with a robust single-payer type system.

We encourage you and your Administration to support the Commission’s work and guide them as they develop the building blocks for a new system of care. We look forward to their work and a concrete set of recommendations before the end of the year. As legislators, we stand ready to lead with you in the effort to move California towards a healthier future.

Sincerely,

LAURA FRIEDMAN
Assemblymember, 43rd District

DAVID CHIU
Assemblymember, 17th District

ASH KALRA
Assemblymember, 27th District