Editor,

I am writing in response to Assemblywoman Catherine Stefani’s column entitled “Standing Up For Healthcare.”  If I wasn’t a longtime advocate for better healthcare, I might be impressed at the number of healthcare bills Stefani is working on.  Instead, I was angry and outraged.

At the same time as she was writing her column, a bill that would have begun to move California towards universal healthcare, AB 1900, was dying.  More information about the bill can be found in a column I wrote for another newspaper:  sfbayview.com/2026/05/democrats-torpedo-calcare-again/.

The following paragraph is from that article.

In a press release, CNA (California Nurses Association) members condemned “the California State Assembly’s failure to advance A.B. 1900, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, also known as CalCare, at a time when health care is needed more urgently than ever before. The failure to advance A.B. 1900 shows a lack of leadership and a capitulation to corporate health care interests.”

The per capita cost for healthcare in the many countries with universal healthcare is on average about half of what it is in the United States.  Opponents say, “How will we pay for it?”  I say, we are already paying for it 2 times over.  Everyone could have better healthcare at half the cost. 

I believe Catherine Stefani’s column should more accurately have the title:  “Standing Up For Corporate Healthcare Interests.”  By working on incremental reform through the bills listed in her column, fundamental healthcare reform that is urgently needed is once again defeated.  The profits of those who provide campaign contributions to the great majority of legislators in Sacramento are safe for another year.

Stephanie’s actions make me wonder about her work on other issues.  Are her constituents the primary beneficiaries or corporate interests?

Barry Hermanson