California legislature candidate pegs profit as the root of healthcare woes

Democratic State Assembly candidate Chris Rogers, seated center, speaks at a meeting of the local chapter of Healthcare for All. | Henry Millstein / People's World

ARCATA, Calif.—Meeting with constituents in Arcata in late September, Democratic candidate for the California State Assembly Chris Rogers declared that a healthcare system based on profit rather than on delivery of services cannot meet the needs of Californians.

Rogers, who is strongly favored to win in this heavily Democratic district, pointed to the huge number of bankruptcies that follow on medical bills as one example of what he termed a “broken system.”

Speaking to the local chapter of Healthcare for All, a national organization promoting a single-payer healthcare system, he declared, “It’s an outrage that in the wealthiest state in the wealthiest country in the world, people are going bankrupt because of medical bills.”

Rogers stated his strong support for a single-payer healthcare system, which is now under consideration in the state legislature. Conceding that it will probably take some time to win such a system, he also favors immediate incremental reforms to mitigate the current system that relies on profits as its main goal, even by so-called “non-profits” such as Blue Shield.

Rogers has a long history of progressive activism. His first job was a staff position with Lynn Woolsey, the first person elected to Congress who was a single parent on welfare. Most recently, he served as mayor of Santa Rosa, Calif., where he put through a program to provide all single parents with a guaranteed basic income.

He also championed a local rent control ordinance that unfortunately was repealed in a referendum paid for by wealthy real estate interests.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Henry Millstein

Hank Millstein is a long-time peace and labor activist. He's a fiction writer and journalist and a member of the National Writers Union.