Under intense pressure from the for-profit healthcare industry, Sacramento politicians just ducked a crucial vote to adopt quality and universal healthcare in California – Medicare for All.

We already know the lack of quality and affordable healthcare care is literally killing Californians. And during the pandemic we saw the terrible reality that Black people are up to twice as likely to die of COVID-19 and Latinos in California are up to three times more likely to die.

What we don’t talk about enough is that passing Medicare for All won’t just save lives – it will save billions of dollars. Up to one third of every healthcare dollar goes to insurance company costs and profit and medical bureaucracy. We can eliminate these billions of dollars of waste – and spend the money saving lives and making California healthier – with money to spare.

I have been fighting for universal and quality healthcare for virtually my entire career in public service. As a child, we frequently went without healthcare. Maybe that’s why I fought so hard to keep St. Luke’s Hospital open and to safeguard San Francisco’s pioneering universal healthcare program. I know it saves lives.

The reason politicians in Sacramento ducked a vote on Medicare for All is clear – a massive lobbying campaign from the for-profit healthcare industry backed by obscene campaign spending. We see that in our race for Assembly, with the for-profit healthcare industry backing on of our chief opponents – Tenderloin Supervisor Matt Haney.

Our campaign is completely corporate-free – and we accept no funds from the for-profit healthcare lobby or any corporations.