Single Payer Health Care Presentation (SB840) WCCUSD School Board Presentation - December 12, 2007 by Sue Bergman Health Educator at Alameda County

Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you tonight. I have a packet of information that I want to distribute to the board that includes more detailed information about single payer, how to determine cost savings, and how it compares with “the Leadership bill” now in the State Legislature. In the few minutes I have been given, it is my intention to begin the discussion about single payer health care as a real fix for the current crisis we are facing in the delivery and cost of health care. Tonight I will be discussing SB 840, a single payer health care bill currently in the California State Legislature.

I want to begin by providing a brief definition of what single payer health care is and what it is not. Included in this will be how it will benefit all Californians by providing equitable, affordable, and quality health care to all residents of California. And finally, I want to outline how it will save the district a lot of money.

What single payer is: The term single payer describes the funding mechanism for health care services. Literally, all services and expenses are paid from a single pot of money made up of contributions from existing sources of federal health care money, as well as, employer and employee contributions through payroll taxes. This is quite different than the current way health care goods and services are paid. Currently, in California, there are over 15,000 different health care coverage plans, which, individually collect premiums, co-pays and deductibles, from which they pay the providers of health care services. Each has a different set of covered services, different set of paperwork for billing, and different levels of coverage. With s/p there is only one plan – a extremely rich and comprehensive set of benefits, only one set of paperwork sent to only place for reimbursement, and only level of coverage. Single payer SB 840 provides universal coverage to all residents of California, regardless of their level of employment, age, income, or existing health problems. As you can see from the Fact Sheet, SB 840 provides coverage for all needed medical services, as well as, medications, health education, dental services, vision services, skilled nursing care, and many other benefits. It is by far, a much richer benefit package than the usual Gold Standard, CALPERS. In addition, single payer, SB 840 allows for full choice of providers.

What single payer isn’t: Single payer health care is not “socialized medicine”, as Gov. Schwartznegger mischaracterized SB840 when he vetoed it last year. Under socialized medicine, health care providers and workers are employed by the government. Under single payer they remain privately employed. Under socialized medicine, hospitals and clinics are publicly owned. Under single payer, hospitals and clinics will remain as they are today, some private, some public. None of that will change. The only thing that will change will be that everyone will be covered from cradle to grave, and there will be little need for the existence of health insurers, the people who are currently in business to make a profit by denying coverage, who spend nearly 30% of every healthcare dollar on administrative overhead, high executive salaries, advertising, and share holder profits. Under single payer, there is no need for insurance companies. Everyone has the same plan, the same medication list, has access to all needed services, and can never again go bankrupt from medical expenses. They get the care they need regardless of their income. They contribute to the pot proportionately to their income (3.78% of wages above $7,000). Beyond that they pay nothing, no co-pays, no deductibles, no nothing.

Finally, the enactment of a single payer bill will save the district a lot of money. Numerous studies have been performed that show that single payer health care will save billions of dollars while also guaranteeing comprehensive coverage for everyone. My organization, Health Care for All – California, commissioned the Lewin Group to do a financial analysis of SB 840 in 2005. In your packet is a fact Sheet of their findings. Overall, SB 840 would save California $8 billion in the first year by replacing the multiple insurers we currently have with one insurance plan. This will save about $20 billion in administrative costs. In addition, huge savings (about $5.2 billion) will be realized by the bulk purchasing power of the state to negotiate prices on medications and durable medical equipment. This is the very reason that Canada is able to buy prescription medications for so much less than the U.S.

In your packet is a simple instruction sheet to allow you to calculate the savings your district will realize under a single payer system. When you plug in the numbers, you will be able to see exactly how much you will save from your current spending, and still provide an extremely rich benefit package to your employees. Instead of the steady rise in premium costs that everyone has been experiencing in the past 10 years, SB 840 contains cost controls that will prevent such excessive spending.

Now that you have been given a general description of single payer, its extremely comprehensive benefit package, and the money that the district could save, I hope that you will continue this discussion with the board and the teachers, and conclude that you want to endorse SB 840.

Thank you.