By: Dorothy M. Cociu, RHU, REBC, GBA, RPA, OCAHU V.P. of Communications &
Public Affairs, President, Advanced Benefit Consulting & Insurance Services, Inc.
May-June 2018
As Editor of the COIN, I wanted to thank all of you that have contacted me to thank me and OCAHU for the articles, town hall meetings and overall education on the Single Payer fight here in California. At your request, I wanted to continue to provide you with updates on the Single Payer fight, and to help OCAHU and CAHU to educate our members and readers, as well as their employer clients on the important issues related to this topic.
CAHU is going to be starting a social media campaign soon to educate members and the general public on key concepts related to this issue. I’m sure you’ll be hearing much more about this immediately following our visit to Sacramento in mid-May for Capitol Summit, where we will be meeting with legislators to share with them our views. But in the meantime, I wanted to start our own OCAHU campaign. OCAHU will be continuing a regular column on the Single Payer Fight, until this issue is over and we’ve won our battle!
The Glossary
I want to begin with some basic concepts that CAHU now has available in a document you can pull down from both the CAHU and OCAHU websites, called simply, The Glossary.
It became apparent to the CAHU Communications Committee (which Nolan Warriner, OCAHU Social Media Chair, and myself are part of), that the general public, as well as some of our members, are not 100% clear on some basic concepts and terms related to this fight.
The Truth is In The Details… The Differences Between Single Payer, Healthcare for All and Universal Coverage
The most important of these concepts is in the definitions… What are the differences between Single Payer, Healthcare for All, and Universal Coverage, or Universal Health Care? These are basic concepts that we all must be aware of, and pass on during this important fight.
It’s also important that you understand that NAHU, CAHU and OCAHU are very much in support of Universal Access to Health Care. This concept is a broad term for a program that makes some level of basic coverage available to all. Although this is often perceived as a done through a government-run health program, it also allows for private insurance as a choice to the consumer. What CAHU wants to promote is Universal Access to Health Care through private insurance programs, not a government-run health care program. THIS IS THE MESSAGE!
Back to the definitions… Universal Health Care refers to providing every citizen with health care coverage. Although universal health care generally means a national public insurance program, there are varieties of ways of achieving this; some of which are predominantly public, and others which are a mixture of public and private elements. To understand examples of these differences, please refer to the Glossary provided by CAHU, which is again available on both the CAHU and OCAHU websites. The glossary compares Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. I think it’s important that our members become much more educated on the realities of the plans provided throughout the world. There are some countries that do a nice job of combining the concepts of a government-run program with private sector options. Should we be in a situation where Single Payer were to pass in California, either through the legislature or as a ballot measure, we need to be prepared to be in a position to offer suggestions for compromise, so that our industry does not die.
Back to the definitions and details…
Single payer is a system in which all residents pay the state, via taxes in amounts determined by the state, to cover all healthcare costs for all of its residents, regardless of income, occupation, or health status. A single payer plan here in California would end all of the individual’s options to buy or not buy health coverage from private insurers based on their needs and ability to pay.
Both the Healthy California Act and the New York Health Act are true single-payer plans, which would eliminate all private and public insurance programs, including Medicare, Medi-Cal, Veteran’s health care, and other programs. The funding of a single payer system comes from all or a portion of the covered population via new taxes.
Remember, in 2017 CAHU reported (covered in the November-December, 2017 issue of the COIN (page 15, URGENT NOTICE: CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL PROPOSED MEASURE TO ESTABLISH FUND FOR HEALTHCARE EXEMPT FROM REVENUE RESTRICTIONS; California Healthcare Roadblock Removal Act- Given Green Light for Signature Gathering for Single Payer Health) that the Attorney General had put forth a proposal initiative to establish a fund exempt from revenue restrictions, which would clear the way for collecting signatures and pass taxes for single payer health. We’ve since seen a massive campaign (samples printed in the March-April, 2018 issue of the COIN –Single Payer Is Not Dead, page 23 and actual text from an email campaign rallying support and actions on page 24) from the supporters spreading the word about single payer… Our fight is far from over!
We’re asking that you please stay tuned for future issues of the COIN, as well as the CAHU social media campaign, which should kick off immediately after Capitol Summit in May… You will be asked to join the campaign using certain hashtags, such as #singlepayer-the truthisinthefacts or #singlepayer-intheknow. Please act when we ask you to… Please help us spread the word to the general public, and help us win this fight!
For the complete Glossary, go to the OCAHU website, or CAHU website to print or download a copy. And please, pass it on! ##
Author’s Note: Websites referred to are ocahu.org and cahu.org.
Originally published in The County of Orange Insurance News (The COIN), May-June, 2018, published by the Orange County Association of Health Underwriters. Additional printing in multiple CAHU newsletters and other industry publications.
