Thread by @CalNurses

You may have heard that there are currently two different #SinglePayer bills being considered in the California legislature — so what's the difference between the two?

Nurses break it down.👇🧵 (1/9)

Union nurses champion #AB1690, which sets in motion a single-payer health care coverage system for all residents in the state called #CalCare.

CalCare will guarantee quality health care and long-term care without creating barriers to care or out-of-pocket costs! (2/9)

Another bill seeks to start informal conversations with the federal government about pursuing waivers to let Medicaid and Medicare funds be used for a single-payer health care system BEFORE establishing a single-payer policy. (3/9)

What’s more, we know that the Healthy California for All Commission ALREADY had these conversations. We have the answers we need, now is the time to focus on passing single-payer legislation. (4/9)

The working group the other bill establishes will delay #CalCare for the immediate future, certainly beyond the end of this legislative session, with no guaranteed benefit in return, since nothing the workgroup or HHS says will be legally binding. (5/9)

There are 3.2 million Californians with no insurance, millions more underinsured, and we’re still in the middle of a deadly pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 Californians.

We need a single-payer health care system NOW. That's why nurses are focused on #AB1690. (6/9)

Even if these conversations were productive, HHS will not approve a waiver application for a program that does not even exist yet. Legally, they couldn't.

You can't enter a contract without having established what the contract would actually do. #CalCare (7/9)

The question is not: “Can California implement single-payer?” Because we know it can!

The question should be: "When will the super majority of Democrats in the California state legislature take action?” (8/9)

There's NO reason to stall the process of establishing the structure of a single-payer system while we have informal discussions about waivers that will go nowhere! There's no reason to delay #CalCare!

Learn more about nurses' fight to pass #AB1690. (9/9) nationalnursesunited.org/calcare