California nurses fight for health care for all

By Lila Swanson

As millions of Californians face rising premiums, crushing medical debt and the looming threat of federal Medicaid cuts, a growing coalition of lawmakers and union nurses is fighting to pass universal health care.

Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) has reintroduced Assembly Bill 1900, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act. Known as CalCare, the bill would establish a comprehensive single-payer healthcare system for all Californians. The bill is sponsored by the California Nurses Association.

“We are proud to work with Assemblymember Kalra and the statewide grassroots movement behind this campaign to make CalCare a reality in 2026,” said Sandy Reding, RN, president of the California Nurses Association. “CalCare is a winning issue for California Democrats. Elected representatives in Sacramento have a clear public mandate to pass CalCare.”

That mandate is hard to ignore. A new poll conducted by David Binder Research found that nearly two-thirds of California voters want transformational changes, not just minor reforms, to the state’s healthcare system. An overwhelming 86 percent of Democrats support single-payer health care, and more than three-quarters say they would be more likely to support a gubernatorial candidate who runs on creating such a system.

“For union workers in particular, CalCare represents a fundamental shift in power at the bargaining table,” said Sacramento Central Labor Council executive director Fabrizio Sasso. “When health care is no longer tied to employment, employers lose one of their most effective tools for extracting wage concessions. Workers gain the freedom to change jobs, go on strike, or retire without fear of losing coverage for themselves or their families.”

The urgency is real. More than 40 percent of California voters say it has become harder to afford health care in recent years. This year alone, premiums on Covered California, the state’s ACA marketplace, have more than doubled on average following the loss of federal premium tax credits. And with the passage of H.R. 1 at the federal level—a bill that would gut more than $900 billion from Medicaid—as many as 3.4 million Californians could lose their health insurance entirely, including parents and newborns who rely on Medi-Cal for safe pregnancy care.

“People are delaying care due to costs. They are forced to choose between paying their rent and medications, food, or doctor’s bills,” said Reding. “This is why we need a single-payer system.”

CalCare would cover every Californian regardless of employment status, immigration status, income or any other factor—with no premiums, no copays and no deductibles. The plan includes dental, vision, mental health, prescription drugs, long-term care, reproductive health and substance use treatment. It eliminates narrow networks that stop consumers from choosing their provider and surprise bills, and redirects the billions currently consumed by insurance company profits, executive compensation and administrative bureaucracy back into actual care.

AB 1900 is coauthored by 20 legislators in total—a broad, growing bloc of California Democrats who believe the time for half-measures has passed. With union nurses leading the grassroots movement and hundreds of community members already filling town halls across the state, CalCare is building the momentum it needs to become law.

“I am proud to introduce AB 1900 to initiate a transition to a single-payer health care coverage system,” said Kalra. “With CalCare, health care will be recognized as a human right—offering a stark contrast to the current status quo, where we invest the most in care yet experience some of the poorest health outcomes.”

Kalra continued, “Access to health care should never be determined by your employment, location, gender or sexual orientation, age, or pre-existing conditions. In light of devastating cuts from the federal government, we must reject the inequities of the worsening system and fight for a better future for all Californians. We cannot afford to wait any longer.”