The Time Has Come for ALL Californians to Have Universal Healthcare

Los Angeles, CA, June 30, 2017 (Newswire.com) - California is the sixth largest economy in the world. More people live in California than in all of Canada. And yet Canadians have one thing that Californians do not have - universal, single-payer healthcare for all. 

I proudly endorsed SB 562, The Healthy California Act, and I am disappointed that its path forward has been stalled in the Assembly for this year. But disappointment does not create change. 

The pharmaceutical industry just spent $100 million to defeat a 2016 ballot measure that threatened to regulate the outrageous prices we pay for prescription drugs.  

Healthcare in America is a trillion dollar industry. According to a recent study out of University of Massachusetts Amherst, “through implementation of Healthy California, overall costs of providing full healthcare coverage to all Californians could fall by about 18 percent relative to spending levels under the existing system.” 

Monied interests are organized and ready to fight any changes that might impact their bottom lines, regardless of the benefit to average people. They lobby and donate to politicians in both parties in order to achieve their goals. 

The only way to fight back is to organize, stand together and fight for the basic right to healthcare that every single person in California deserves. To the critics who say it isn't affordable, the Amherst study offers several different methods to fund the system that doesn't require a 10 percent increase to payroll taxes. Now is the time for activists and committed supporters of SB562 to roll up our sleeves to create the best healthcare system in the world and elect leaders capable of standing up to the monied interests in order to vote for it. 

I believe in our capacity to design such a system right now, so that when I take office as the next Governor of California, I will be able to sign Healthy California into law. 

Onward,

Delaine Eastin

Media Inquiries
Jennifer Rindahl, Campaign Manager
Jennifer@delaineforgovernor.com