A Steyer presidency will produce a health care system that leaves no American behind

For years South Carolinians have suffered because they don’t have access to adequate health services.

Every day working families suffer because a broken medical system puts profits ahead of people.

Our health and lives should not be run by insurance companies and corporate providers that focus on their own profits. With 28 million people uninsured in our country, it’s alarming and unacceptable that insurers continue to deny families the services that they need.

In South Carolina, more than 522,000 South Carolinians do not have health insurance; most of them are low-income families in communities of color. The South Carolinians who are stuck in this “coverage gap” experience the worst outcomes: far too often people in this state have to make an impossible choice between purchasing life-saving medication or paying household bills.

The refusal by South Carolina’s Republican-majority Legislature to expand Medicaid expansion left $11.2 billion on the table — and it is at the root of the problem.

It’s unacceptable that in the wealthiest country on Earth, families routinely declare bankruptcy due to health care costs. President Donald Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham and the Republican Party’s crusade to eliminate the Affordable Care Act all underscore the GOP’s refusal to accept affordable health care as an American right in the 21st century.

Fixing our broken health care system begins with recognizing a non-negotiable truth: every American has the right to affordable, accessible health care. That’s why I’m proposing a comprehensive “Right to Health” plan that prioritizes care over corporate greed.

My administration will build on the Affordable Care Act by ensuring its landmark protections and provide more choices to South Carolinians through an affordable public option from the government.

Through the government’s buying power and negotiating leverage, we can drive down costs and ensure a high quality of service from providers. Insurers will have to compete with a low-cost public option; that in turn will drive down premiums and force private insurance companies to do better — or to go out of business.

The goals of my plan are simple:

▪ Make health care available for everyone.

▪ Lower overall costs.

▪ Improve the quality of health care across the board.

First, through my plan I will use the power of the federal government to negotiate payment rates for providers and hospitals — driving down costs for families. It would have a similar framework to the current traditional Medicare and Medicaid but it would be its own separate program; medical providers would need to participate in the public option or lose their contracts with Medicaid and Medicare. This would ensure affordable care and lower prescription drug prices.

Second, my administration will aim to build a universal health care system that covers all Americans, including the 28 million who are currently uninsured. Uninsured Americans will be offered enrollment in the public option when they seek benefits through programs like SNAP and unemployment benefits — and if they qualify for free health care under my plan, they will be automatically enrolled.

Third, access to care must mean access to high-quality care, and that means tearing down the racial inequities throughout the health care system. Many diseases — including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, HIV/AIDS and certain types of cancer — threaten the lives of minority South Carolinians at higher rates. In South Carolina, for example, African American men are nearly twice as likely as white men to die of diabetes.

Affordable health care is a right for every South Carolinian and every person living in this country; it should not be a privilege reserved for the wealthy or well-connected. Life-saving health decisions should be made by families and their doctors; they should not by corporations that unfairly write the rules.

Unlike other candidates in this race, I have done the work to organize Americans for a decade and to take on and defeat corporations, including big drug companies. Americans deserve a president who trusts the American people to make the best decisions for themselves — and a president who will put power back in the hands of the people.

Tom Steyer is a Democratic Party 2020 presidential candidate.