If you’re moving to San Francisco any time soon, be sure to Google a clinic of your choice, because on top of offering free wireless Internet access throughout the city, San Francisco unveiled a plan last month to provide free healthcare to all of its residents. Mayor Gavin Newsom said the measure will target the city’s 82,000 uninsured residents who don’t qualify for federal Medicare, regardless of their employment or immigration status, using the contributions of the municipal government and private employers. The proposal would make it the first city in the country to do so.
So why don’t we all just pack in a VW bus and move already? Because there’s a better option: Make California the second state in the country to offer nearly universal healthcare, taking Massachusetts’ lead. As a stepping stone, San Francisco’s proposal is stellar, but it falls short of what California should aim for: universal health insurance, not just free care for those in a certain income bracket. Massachusetts may prove a better model. In April, lawmakers passed a bill that many health experts say is a mechanism for all citizens to obtain health insurance. It’s an approach that even Republicans in the state have commended as moderate.
This week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger out-Democrated his opponent in the gubernatorial race, State Treasurer Phil Angelides, by announcing steps toward more accessible healthcare coverage statewide. At a summit on healthcare affordability, Schwarzenegger called for improved medical record technology and 500 new health clinics at elementary schools. Though it doesn’t make up for his reneging on campaign promises to pursue universal healthcare in California, it’s a start—one that Angelides is now mimicking.
Schwarzenegger’s willingness to tackle the issue puts California in the perfect position to follow San Francisco’s lead. It also shakes up the cemented partisanship when it comes to healthcare issues. All Arnold has to do is start pitching universal care in a language his fellow Republicans understand: business. If the state could take most of the insurance burden off of employers, we would likely see companies flooding back into California, eager to employ Californians with good health, but nary an insurance premium in sight.