Healthcare and Public Health Policy
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Summary
• Benefits for voters: Lower healthcare costs with more transparency, and stronger care systems that keep working during disasters and public health emergencies.
• Who benefits: Families facing high premiums, uninsured residents, rural and underserved communities, seniors, and anyone impacted by wildfires, heat waves, floods, or outbreaks.
• What makes it accountable or measurable: Clear targets for cost savings, telehealth reach, emergency response speed, stockpiles, mobile clinic coverage, and workforce training, tracked with public metrics.
Guiding principles
• Expand access and close equity gaps so care is available in urban, rural, and underserved communities.
• Modernize preparedness through smart prevention, secure technology, and community-centered support.
• Build a healthcare system that stays reliable during disasters, climate shocks, and public health emergencies.
Goals
• Lower costs for families while protecting choice.
• End surprise billing and make prices transparent before care.
• Close rural and underserved access gaps through telehealth and mobile care.
• Expand mental health support and crisis response statewide.
• Strengthen aging and long-term care so seniors can stay safe and independent.
• Reduce climate-related illness and protect vulnerable communities.
• Build secure, interoperable health technology for coordination and safety.
• Detect outbreaks faster and respond earlier to prevent overload.
• Keep hospitals and clinics operating through disasters and grid disruptions.
• Train and maintain a workforce that can surge during long emergencies.
Plan & Policy
I. Cost control with choice and real transparency
Goals:
• Lower costs for families while protecting choice.
• Prevent surprise bills and make prices clear before care.
Actions:
• Launch voluntary, region-specific public option pilots with clear cost caps.
• Require all-payer price transparency so hospitals publish real, upfront prices.
• Fully ban surprise billing.
• Make preventive services fully covered.
• Auto-enroll uninsured residents only, with opt-out.
• Align employer and insurer incentives to reward prevention, without mandates.
Results:
• Approximate $1,200 per year average family savings.
• 10–15% long-term cost reduction.
• More predictable premiums and fewer billing shocks.
II. Community health and equity
Goal: Close access gaps so care does not depend on zip code.
Actions:
• Expand telehealth so 95% of rural residents can access it within 3 years.
• Provide free preventive care for children under 18 in underserved areas.
• Integrate public option pilot plans with preventive care to reduce family premiums and improve long-term health.
Results:
• Reduced disparities.
• Empowered families.
• Better continuity of care during disasters and emergencies through telehealth and mobile services.
III. Mental health and social support
Goal: Expand mental health access and everyday support statewide.
Actions:
• Expand tele-therapy statewide, including in schools.
• Invest in community mental health programs serving more than 50,000 residents annually in high-stress zones.
• Expand crisis hotlines statewide, including through mobile units.
Results:
• Faster access to support.
• Lower stress-related health issues.
• Stronger recovery and stability during disasters and emergencies.
IV. Hospital and clinic resilience
Goal: Keep care running day to day, including during grid disruptions.
Actions:
• Ensure 100% of hospitals have backup power and microgrids.
• Require major hospitals to maintain 90-day stockpiles of key medicines, PPE, and water.
• Deploy mobile clinics that can reach more than 50,000 Californians annually in remote or disaster-hit areas.
Results:
• More reliable hospital operations.
• Continuous access to essential supplies.
• No community left behind during disasters and emergencies.
V. Insurance reform and cost containment
Goal: Reduce premiums and improve affordability through competition, transparency, and prevention.
Actions:
• Scale public option pilots to expand access for 50,000 low-income families in the early years.
• Use transparent pricing and surprise billing enforcement to lower premiums.
• Pair preventive care and wellness programs with cost-control strategies to reduce long-term costs.
Results:
• Affordable, predictable healthcare for households.
• Sustained cost reductions over time.
• More stable coverage during disasters and emergencies.
VI. Aging and long-term care
Goals: Support seniors and families by strengthening home care and daily living supports.
Actions:
• Expand home care and senior support to reach 100,000+ Californians by 2028.
• Provide subsidies for low-income seniors to help cover daily living and medical needs.
Results:
• Families supported.
• Seniors safer and more independent.
• Better continuity of care during disasters and emergencies.
VII. Climate and environmental health adaptation
Goal: Reduce climate-related illness and protect vulnerable communities.
Actions:
• Expand cooling centers and clean-air shelters in vulnerable communities.
• Support flood and wildfire mitigation measures that reduce exposure and health impacts.
• Integrate mobile and telehealth units into climate adaptation planning.
Results:
• Reduced climate-related illness.
• Stronger community protection.
• More resilient healthcare delivery during disasters and emergencies.
VIII. Workforce development and surge capacity
Goal: Strengthen staffing and access across all counties.
Actions:
• Train 10,000 clinicians in telehealth and climate-resilient practices by 2027.
• Maintain reserve staffing capacity across all 58 counties.
• Expand training in disaster medicine to support 90+ day emergencies.
Results:
• Better staffing coverage and quality of care.
• Expanded rural access.
• Stronger surge capacity during disasters and emergencies.
IX. Data, technology, and health IT
Goal: Improve coordination, safety, and speed of decision-making through secure statewide systems.
Actions:
• Build secure, statewide EHR and telehealth platforms that can support every clinic and hospital.
• Use predictive analytics to allocate resources in real time.
Results:
• Faster decisions and safer care.
• Better coordination during disasters and emergencies.
X. Public health preparedness and emergency response
Goal: Detect outbreaks faster and respond earlier to save lives and reduce disruption.
Actions:
• Build and maintain stockpiles of vaccines, antivirals, and PPE sized for statewide needs.
• Use modern surveillance tools to detect outbreaks within 48 hours to support earlier containment.
• Stand up rapid-response teams in every county with a target of deployment within 2 hours of a disaster.
Results:
• Faster containment.
• Fewer hospital overloads.
• Improved coordination during disasters and emergencies.
Safeguards
• Protect rights and civil liberties:
- Limit surveillance to public health purposes with clear governance, data minimization, and strong privacy controls
- Restrict use of health data for unrelated enforcement; maintain patient consent and confidentiality standards
• Risk checks, transparency, audits:
- Public dashboards for key metrics
- Independent audits for pricing transparency compliance
- Emergency stockpiles
- Health IT security
- Regular disaster readiness drills and after-action reports
• Rollback or pause triggers:
- Pause expansions if pilots miss cost, access, or quality thresholds
- Suspend vendors that fail security and privacy requirements
- Adjust or end programs that do not demonstrate measurable value over defined review periods.
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• Does this replace private insurance?
No. The public option is voluntary and structured as region-specific pilots that compete with private plans. It is designed to expand access and discipline prices without forcing anyone to switch coverage.
• How does the plan lower costs without cutting care?
The plan targets cost drivers people can see: upfront pricing, a full surprise billing ban, prevention-first coverage, and competition through capped public option pilots. It also aims to reduce avoidable ER visits and preventable hospitalizations through earlier preventive care.
• Who is auto-enrolled, and can they opt out?
Only uninsured residents would be auto-enrolled, and they can opt out. The goal is to reduce gaps in coverage while protecting choice.
• What does “real price transparency” mean for patients?
Hospitals must publish upfront prices people can understand before care, not after-the-fact billing surprises. The goal is fewer billing shocks and stronger accountability for pricing practices.
• How will hospitals keep operating during wildfires, heat waves, or outages?
Hospitals will be required to maintain 90-day stockpiles of key supplies and have backup power and microgrids so essential services can continue during disruptions.
• How fast will emergency teams respond during disasters?
The target is rapid-response teams in every county that can deploy within 2 hours, supported by stockpiles and real-time coordination tools.
• How does this help rural communities specifically?
The plan expands telehealth access to reach 95% of rural residents within 3 years and uses mobile clinics to bring care to remote and disaster-impacted areas.
• What is included for mental health support?
Teletherapy and crisis hotlines are expanded statewide, including in schools and through mobile units. Community mental health programs are scaled to serve 50,000+ residents annually in high-stress zones.
• How will California have enough staff during long emergencies?
The plan trains 10,000 clinicians by 2027 in disaster medicine, telehealth, and climate-resilient care, and maintains surge staffing capacity across all 58 counties for 90+ day emergencies.
• Is statewide health technology safe and private?
It must be secure by design, with strong privacy controls, independent security audits, and limits on data use. The purpose is clinical coordination and emergency readiness, not unrelated monitoring.
• How does the plan address climate-related health risks?
It expands cooling centers, clean-air shelters, and mitigation supports in vulnerable communities, and integrates mobile and telehealth units into climate planning so care remains available during air quality and extreme heat events.
• How will we know if this is working?
The plan commits to clear metrics like family savings, telehealth reach, response time, mobile clinic coverage, and senior support reach, published publicly with audits and review points.
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