Health care advocates launched a statewide campaign in Salinas on Thursday, calling attention to what they say is a growing affordability crisis. The town hall comes as recent data from California’s Office of Health Care Affordability showed Monterey County residents face some of the highest medical costs in the nation.
The event—organized by members of Health Access California, the California Federation of Teachers, National Multiple Sclerosis Society—was the first in a series of town halls planned to take place across California. Organizers said they chose Monterey County because of the region's unusually high health care costs and the financial strain that those expenses place on families, workers, and employers.
According to Health Access California, rising medical costs are forcing many Californians to delay or skip care, take on medical debt and make difficult financial tradeoffs. The organization cited recent data showing Monterey County residents pay some of the highest health care costs in the country, including maternity care costs that are well above the state average.
Monterey County resident Annan Patterson, a retired school psychologist with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, shared her own experience navigating the health care system. Patterson, who lives with primary progressive multiple sclerosis, said a lapse in her supplemental insurance nearly left her responsible for a $79,000 bill for medication.
"I'm lucky in so many ways to have what I have in terms of coverage, but it's so easily lost," Patterson said. "And what about people that don't have what I have? What then?"
Patterson said rising health care costs are also affecting the broader community. As a retired educator and grandmother of two students in Monterey County schools, she said increasing health insurance premiums are making it harder for school districts to recruit and retain teachers.
"We heard how healthcare premiums and healthcare decisions were directly impacting not only teachers' well-being, but their willingness to stay here," Patterson said. "Like, 'I'm out. I'm leaving. I'm going somewhere where I can live less expensively and get better healthcare.'"
The coalition of advocates are urging state leaders to strengthen California's Office of Health Care Affordability, which was created to slow the growth of patient spending. The agency is expected to consider new enforcement measures in August that could penalize medical groups and insurance companies if they exceed the state's health care spending targets.
Advocates said they hope sharing residents' experiences will help policymakers understand how rising medical costs affect communities across Monterey County.
