SCDP Supports Passing Single-Payer Legislation for California

WHEREAS, currently, 3 million Californians have no health coverage, nearly one-third of all Californians who do have coverage reported delaying or skipping necessary health care over the last year due to cost, and the Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage the state of California, disproportionately infecting and killing people of color and forcing millions of people out of work, thus exposing the unsustainability of the employer-provided insurance model; and

WHEREAS, a single payer system would enshrine health care as a human right in the state of California by guaranteeing comprehensive, high quality care to all Californians with the freedom to choose who provides that care, free at the point of service, at a lower overall cost than our current system;” and

WHEREAS, implementing a single-payer program in California would require legislation to be passed by the State Senate and Assembly and signed into law by the Governor, in addition to federal waivers, as outlined in Title 42, Chapter 157 of the US Government Code;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Sonoma County Democratic Party supports the passage of Assembly Bill 1400, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, which would guarantee health care to all Californians as a right by way of a single-payer health care system, as outlined in the platform of the California Democratic Party, and urges the Democratic supermajority in the California State Legislature to pass and the Democratic Governor to sign the bill; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED  that a copy of this resolution shall be transmitted to Governor Gavin Newsom, State Senate Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, the leadership of the State Legislature and Executive Branch.

Resolution adopted by the Sonoma County Democratic Party on March 9, 2021