EDITORIAL: While Trump tweets, Newsom leads on health care
Newsom's strategy puts him on a path to fulfill his campaign promises for universal health care and lower drug costs in
The new governor's penchant for bold statements prompted concern that he would propose a single-payer system that 1) still doesn't have a credible financial plan and 2) would be impossible to implement as long as Trump is president and
Newsom instead called for reinstatement of the individual mandate in
Reinstating the individual mandate in
Reinstating the individual mandate encourages those who would go without insurance to enroll and have access to routine, preventive appointments that sharply reduce the threat of costly, chronic disease.
The cost of treating the uninsured is too often passed on to those who carry insurance. By covering those currently uninsured, the individual mandate adds healthy enrollees into the insurance pools, lowering premiums for other participants by an estimated 10 percent.
It should be a conservative value to treat everyone in
Newsom's plan to restore the individual mandate and expand access for the undocumented raises political challenges, but it should find favor in the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
The governor's proposal to lower prescription drug costs poses a more difficult issue.
It's a simple matter for the governor to sign an executive order calling on
Getting all of the state agencies to agree on what drugs to negotiate at what price may prove as challenging as herding cats. But it's worth a try. Prescription drug costs have doubled since 2000, and even a small reduction in prescription drug expenditures would save Californians billions.
Rising health care costs are threatening
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