OPINION: Healthcare costs are surging. Taxing billionaires will help Californians keep their coverage

This commentary was originally published by CalMatters

My patients are afraid, and for good reason.

As a nurse, it breaks my heart. I see elderly patients scared to get even a simple test or make an appointment because they're worried about the cost. I see expectant mothers trying to use as much of their benefits as they can before they lose healthcare coverage. Others avoid care altogether.

Premiums keep going up, and the fear in the halls of our hospital is palpable.

California is at the early stages of a full-blown healthcare crisis. Last year, President Donald Trump's regressive budget bill slashed $100 billion in healthcare funding from California to pay for more billionaire tax breaks.

These cuts will have deadly consequences. They eliminate coverage for over a million Californians and double health insurance premiums for millions more. Clinics across our state are closing, hospitals are laying off workers, and life-saving services are being scaled down.

The working people I serve are already seeing their healthcare costs skyrocket.

Luckily, we can right this wrong. California voters have the chance to vote 'yes' on Proposition 40, which will make billionaires finally pay their fair share in taxes to keep local hospitals and ERs open and healthcare affordable for millions of Californians. Known as the California Billionaire Tax, Prop. 40 makes approximately 200 California billionaires pay a modest, one-time tax so millions of Californians aren't stuck paying more for healthcare or losing access to care altogether.

Prop. 40 will raise an estimated $100 billion to replace the healthcare funding Trump and his donors took from working people. The funds will go to life-saving medical care for seniors, veterans, and families. It will allow millions of Californians to keep their health insurance and not see their premiums go through the roof. It will also sustain public school staffing and keep children fed through food assistance programs.

The 5% tax is only paid by Californians worth more than $1 billion in assets, a small group of people who together hold $2 trillion in wealth — most of which will never be taxed due to loopholes that favor the ultra-wealthy.

Without Prop. 40, our patients won't be able to cover critical expenses, like medications. Depending on where they live, they could pull up to an emergency department and discover it's permanently closed, and the next closest hospital is miles away. Those who can get treatment will see the results of major healthcare layoffs and short staffing — worsening conditions in emergency rooms that are already overwhelmed.

There's no way around it: If people can't afford the care they need, it will lead to more serious illnesses and even deaths.

This isn't about dollars and cents; it's about life and death. It's about whether healthcare for 39 million Californians should come before the greed of 200 billionaires — billionaires who built their extreme wealth on the backs of working- and middle-class people.

Sadly, a few morally bankrupt billionaires have spent tens of millions of dollars to continue avoiding taxes. They're not just spreading lies about Prop. 40—they've also funded two sham ballot initiatives designed solely to undo it. I'm talking about Propositions 41 and 42, both of which California voters must reject.

Props. 41 and 42 were put on the ballot to trick voters into making a billionaire tax impossible to enforce. These initiatives aren't about helping California taxpayers, and they're not about audits or retirement savings, as they claim. They are about defeating one specific tax that billionaires want to avoid.

Just follow the money. One of Prop. 41 and 42's main funders is Google founder Sergey Brin, who just surpassed Jeff Bezos to become the third-richest person in the world. Brin is spending more money than most of us will see in our lifetime just to try to cancel out a billionaire tax that would preserve healthcare access in California.

Voters shouldn't fall for these billionaires' lies.

When I traveled across Los Angeles to collect signatures for Prop. 40. I kept hearing the same thing that I hear from my patients: the crisis is here. People are experiencing the impact of rising healthcare costs, and they don't know what to do.

But now I get to tell them, "You're not powerless." Voters can take action to keep hospitals and ERs open and healthcare affordable for millions of families by making billionaires pay their fair share. That means approving Prop. 40 and voting 'no' on Props. 41 and 42.

Erica Olivo Reynoso is a licensed vocational nurse at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center and a member of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West.