Announcements | December 20, 2019

Newsom Launches Healthy California for All Commission, Announces Appointments

Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced the launch of the Healthy California for All Commission and appointed his commissioners to the group, consisting of health experts in business, philanthropy, academia, and labor. Recall, the Healthy California for All Commission was created as part of the 2019-20 Budget Act and is tasked with developing a plan for advancing progress toward achieving a health care delivery system for California that provides coverage and access through a unified financing system, including, but not limited to a single payer financing system. The Commission must prepare an initial report to the Governor and Legislature by July 2020 with a final report due in February 2021. The first Commission meeting will take place on January 27 in Sacramento.

The Commission consists of 13 voting members – eight appointed by the Governor and four appointed by the Legislature – and includes California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly who will serve as the chair of the Commission. The Commission also has five ex-officio, non-voting members.

Members of the Healthy California for All Commission are:

Gubernatorial Appointees

  • Carmen Comsti, Regulatory Policy Specialist at the California Nurses Association and National Nurses United
  • Jennie Hansen, Independent Consultant at Hirsch and Associates, LLC
  • Sandra Hernandez, President and Chief Executive Officer of the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF)
  • William Hsiao, Research Professor of Economics at Harvard University
  • Rupa Marya, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
  • Robert Ross, President and Chief Executive Officer of The California Endowment
  • Richard Scheffler, Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy at University of California, Berkeley
  • Andy Schneider, Research Professor of Practice at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families

Legislative Appointees

  • Sara Flocks, Policy Coordinator at the California Labor Federation (Senate)
  • Janice Rocco, Deputy Commissioner of Health Policy and Reform at the California Department of Insurance (Senate)
  • Antonia Hernandez, Chief Executive Officer of the California Community Foundation (Assembly)
  • Anthony Wright, Executive Director of Health Access (Assembly)

Ex-Officio Members

  • Richard Figueroa, Acting Director of the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)
  • Peter Lee, Executive Director of Covered California
  • Don Moulds, Chief Health Director of CalPERS
  • Senator Richard Pan, Chair of the Senate Health Committee
  • Assembly Member Jim Wood, Chair of the Assembly Health Committee

In announcing the launch of the Commission, the Office of Governor Newsom touted the Governor and Legislature’s actions to move California closer to universal health coverage by expanding coverage, increasing Covered California subsidies, and taking on rising prescription drug prices. Additional information from the Governor’s Office is available here.