Letter to the Editors 1

The press are quick to render opinions about whether government can run health insurance or not, but they don’t simply look at the empirical facts: all the wealthy, industrialized nations, except the United States of America, have either government insurance, government price controls, or government hospitals and clinics.

The United States is the odd-man-out with it’s large private, profit-driven system.

Government absolutely can operate, not only health insurance, but actual hospitals. These other governments can outperform the American system.

CalCare, AB 1400, only replaces commercial health insurance with government health insurance similar to Medicare. It doesn’t touch the healthcare providers.

For the average consumer, it increases your ability to choose a provider.

However, remember why Medicare exists: it’s to insure the unprofitable consumers of healthcare. CalCare also fixes parts of the healthcare system where the private market stumbles.

To wit, CalCare would create an Advisory Commission on Long-Term Services and Supports, that could create a framework for better quality control of nursing homes and similar long term care services, a barely-functioning, barely-profitable part of the healthcare system.

This is a long overdue reform, in a so-called “market” with shady “long term care insurance”, nursing homes that feel like asylums or prisons, and administrators that engage in fraud.

CalCare is government intervention that’s long overdue, and has been proven, in other countries, to improve health outcomes, control costs, and allow the average consumers broad choices.

I urge the Assembly to pass CalCare, AB 1400.

Letter 2 (Comment on Asm Medina’s post on Facebook)

I’ve participated in online support groups for various health issues, to help maintain myself, for around 20 years. These groups are international, with participants, mainly from the industrialized, English-speaking world.

The conversation, at times, turns to healthcare, as you might expect. Then, the drama unfolds:

An American is having a problem with their insurance company approving a procedure, or getting a referral to a specialist.

Someone from Australia, Canada, or the UK explains how they got what they needed. The American explains how their insurance works.

The non-Americans are surprised. Surprise turns to confusion and sometimes anger. Inevitably, the confusion turns to pity.

Pity.

Among the industrialized countries, America has the most dysfunctional healthcare system, and the rest of the world pities us. We need swallow our pride, and follow the lead of the rest of the industrialized countries: our government needs to step up and fix the system.

Please vote for AB 1400 to put us on the path to international dignity and respect.