The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
- (a) Established by the Governor and the Legislature, the Healthy California for All Commission endorsed a system of unified health care financing that is accessible, affordable, equitable, high quality, and universal.
- (b) The commission described the present health care system as one that is fragmented, wasteful, and disproportionately harmful to low-income Californians and communities of color and provided the rationale for a new single, government-administered funding system.
- (c) The commission found that a unified financing system would create significant opportunities to deliver health care more effectively, efficiently, and equitably.
- (d) California could save more than five hundred billion dollars ($500,000,000,000) over the next decade if a unified health care financing system is implemented, with overall costs lower even after most of those savings go to minimize consumer cost sharing and expand long-term care supports and services to all Californians.
- (e) The report by the commission calls for the elimination of corporate profitmaking as the basis of health care decisions.
- (f) The magnitude of the change from the status quo in cost savings and positive impact on Californians’ access to health care services that the commission contemplates represents a profound breakthrough in health policy and would establish California as the nation’s leader in pursuing health equity.
- (g) Federal engagement is critical to the process of developing the framework for a waiver that would provide program approval and full federal financial participation in a unified health care financing system for California.
- (h) The commission’s recommendations for a health care system with unified financing that guarantees all Californians the benefit of a standard, comprehensive package of health care services points the way toward better care at lower cost for our state’s residents.
- (i) Based on these findings, the Legislature endorses a health care system with unified financing, such as a single-payer health care system, to provide accessible, affordable, equitable, and high-quality health care for all Californians.