Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas has ruled that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.299449/gov.uscourts.txnd.299449.211.0.pdf He is best known previously for opinions holding President Obama’s efforts to allow DACA (Dreamers) children to remain in this country and work and pursue their studies were unconstitutional. He is a very conservative judge, and his opinion is likely to be reversed on appeal, but it has to be understood. If it is upheld in the Supreme Court, over 20 million Americans could lose coverage and over 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions could have their coverage reduced or eliminated or their premiums increased; there are also adverse impacts in store for Medicare beneficiaries and privately insured employees who had their coverage improved under the ACA. In the meantime, the best advice is hold tight and keep enrolling people and implementing the ACA’s coverage expansions for Medi-Cal and Covered California.

We met about thirty five years ago in a small kayak store in Venice, CA. Together we slid through the water with pods of friendly dolphins and visited with sea lion harems, flocks of scoters, stately herons, little brown bat rays, brilliant red sea urchins, and lazy leopard sharks.

Governor Newsom has laid out an ambitious agenda: including more housing and more affordable housing, universal pre-school, universal health coverage, tax reform and more. All of these cost money, and there are very real budgetary limits. Many will require the cooperation of multiple interest groups frequently at war with each other and gubernatorial leadership will have to mesh these competing agendas. Ultimately many will need approval by the state’s voters.

UCLA’s Anderson Business School is forecasting economic growth over 3% this year, dropping to 2% in 2019 and falling to 1% in 2020. It sees the chief risks to the economy are: the trade wars and tariffs, the large corporate debts being incurred in mergers and acquisitions, and the drag of the large federal budget deficits generated by the federal tax cuts and spending.

The LAO notes that headed into the next fiscal year, California will have reserves of $14.5 billion and an additional $14.8 billion for the Legislature and new Governor to allocate in the next fiscal year. Looking out further, the LAO notes that if the economy enters a recession, California will have sufficient reserves to weather the recession, assuming 1) it’s a moderate recession and 2) the state does not spend its current surplus. If the economy continues to grow the state will have operating surpluses of $4.5 billion annually.

President Bush was a thoroughly decent man and a wonderful father, husband, grandfather and public servant. He embodied the role model that we expected from our Presidents. This has been lost and needs to be rediscovered in the next election.

This week, the Pew Research Center reported that the numbers of unauthorized immigrants in the US has continued its steady decline that has been underway since 2004.

I first got a taste of the politics of single payer (Canadian style) during the early 70’s when Senator Kennedy was its champion and President Nixon favored a multi-payer private system closer to the German model of offering universal coverage.

Special remembrances and so many thanks to the ex-ITUP staff. You made the organization great; you created a fun and supportive workplace, and you did fabulous work to assure coverage for the uninsured.

 In the single payer systems, private doctors and hospitals deliver the services and government pays their bills for your services. We have a next-door neighbor, Canada, with a single payer system that works reasonably well. Medicare is a single payer system for the elderly and disabled and works well for them. Some well-run European systems like France and Norway are single payer, and their citizens are reasonably happy with the results. Single payer is not the only way to universal coverage. The Germans, Dutch and Swiss all have universal coverage using private insurance, whether through employers or individuals.

The election results are step one of a four-step process to return democracy to our nation. I think the next step is the 2020 election where Democrats and Republicans need to purge President Trump and his faithful corrupt acolytes. After that gerrymandering and voter suppression must be eliminated, and the corrosive elements of special interest financing have to be curtailed. Finally we will need to re-build the independence of the judiciary.  

Voters in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah voted with strong majorities to accept the Medicaid expansion segment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In Wisconsin, Maine and Kansas the gubernatorial candidates opposed to the Medicaid expansion were beaten at the polls, opening the door for Medicaid expansion if legislators are in agreement.

President Trump’s campaign in 2016 and 2018 is all about bashing illegal immigrants and the policies of the administration have been consistent with his campaign rhetoric. He is not just lying to the American people about immigrants. He is damaging our long term economic growth

The 14th Amendment of the Constitution provides "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Asylum, Sanctuary and Refuge

Asylum dates back to medieval times when an individual could seek refuge or sanctuary against persecution in a church. It is one of the hallmarks of civilization, and an important element of one’s humanity.

My wife Katie has worked on getting better results for public school kids as long and as diligently as I have worked on health care for the uninsured. We know Marshall Tuck very well and have seen what he can do in turning around poor performing schools. At the very top of his platform are more funding for public schools and greater support for teachers.  https://marshalltuck.com/invest-in-our-teachers-and-principals/ and https://marshalltuck.com/issues/classrooms-that-are-fully-funded/

American voters have a real choice next week. It’s basically a referendum on Donald Trump, which is unfortunate, but he has remade the Republican Party in his own image, and too many elected Republicans have acquiesced in the most disgraceful aspects of his Presidency.

Marshall Tuck (D) v. Tony Thurmond (D)

I strongly support Marshall Tuck for State Superintendent of Schools and hope you will consider him on the November ballot. Marshall has been on the ground turning around poor performing schools for low-income children throughout Los Angeles.

What an incredible and captivating treat.

Financing Medicare for All is far better done at the federal than at the state level.