Pat Snyder, LWVDV Healthcare Priority Issue Team Member

This commission, which replaces the Council on Health Care Delivery Systems, has just been passed by the Legislature and signed into law (SB 104, section 4).  Its purpose is to develop “a plan for advancing progress toward achieving a health care delivery system for California that provides coverage and access through a unified financing system, including, but not limited to a single payer financing system, for all Californians.”

Governor Newsom has been actively involved in negotiations about the nature and work of the Commission.  The Commission is mandated to meet by September 1, 2019.  To date no appointments have been announced.  Healthy California Now, the coalition advocating for a single payer Medicare For all system for California, has submitted a list of recommendations to be considered.    The commission is to provide a progress report by January 2020, with updates due every six months thereafter, and the final report due by February 1 2021.

The Commission will include 13 members—8 appointed by the governor, 2 by the Senate Committee on Rules, and 2 by the Assembly Speaker.  The commission will be chaired by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mark Ghaly, MD, MPH.  There will be 5 ex officio, non-voting members, all of whom hold another position in the state government, including the Chairs of the Assembly and Senate Health Committees (Jim Wood and Richard Pan). 

It is hoped that the commission will develop information on many of the questions that are commonly raised related to establishing and implementing a single payer in California, including “key design options”. The issues listed in the legislation that are to be addressed by the commission are comprehensive. Thoughtful and careful investigation of these issues will be very valuable in supporting efforts to reform the health care system effectively through a single payer system.