California’s Single Payer Health Care Bill Is Dead on Arrival

The Senate Democrats' Proposal Is Illegal, Unworkable, and Ignores Other Nations' Useful Models

I am a lifelong Democrat who has been working hard for more than a decade to improve the policies and build the coalitions necessary for the success of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. I believe the ACA didn’t go far enough and that the United States must do more to guarantee universal and affordable health coverage. My preference would be for America to move toward a system similar to that of the Netherlands, perennially ranked at the top of the Euro Health Consumer Index. 

So why I am …

How Medicare Both Salved and Scarred American Health Care

The 52-Year-Old Federal Program's Successes Reflect a Complex Legacy

Before Congress passed Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 millions of elderly Americans lacked health insurance. They could not afford to go to the hospital, nor could they cover the …

The Dogged Determination Behind a Decade of Health Gains in South L.A.

Once in Competition, Community Health Centers United to Improve Access and Hold Community Leaders Accountable

Health care, and access to it, has been quietly improving in South Los Angeles over the last decade. But, as I’ve seen firsthand while working with a collective network of …

If We Want to Fix Health Care, It’s Now or Never

Baby Boomers Haven’t Busted America’s System yet—but We Need to Figure out How to Pay Less for Better Patient Outcomes

Are the baby boomers going to bust the health care system?

That’s the big question Wall Street Journal reporter Anna Wilde Mathews posed in her opening remarks to a Zócalo/Health Futures …

The Bay Area Council’s Micah Weinberg

Dietary Supplements Are Not Healthcare

Micah Weinberg is president of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and previously served as senior policy advisor to the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored, public policy advocacy organization. Before …

How Obamacare Is Changing the ER

Our Hospital Emergency Room Sees 400 Uninsured Patients Each Month. My Job Is to Get Them Covered.

Every month, nearly 400 people without health insurance visit the emergency department of the San Jose hospital where I work. Some of them come in after an accident. Others have …