Tom Steyer: ‘We need single-payer health care’

Billionaire and California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer (D) on Tuesday said the United States needs a single-payer health care system.

“Bernie Sanders was right. We need single-payer health care,” Steyer said in a video shared on social media. “In 2019, I didn’t think we needed single-payer health care.”

Steyer said he thought the U.S. could “bend the curve of health care inflation by using more inflation technology, more private sector expertise that these smarty-pants from the business world would bring down the cost.” He added that the U.S. needs a system that will cut out the expenses and “profit for middlemen supplying health care.”

The California Democrat joined a crowded field for the governorship last month, four years after he said he had “no plans” to run for public office again. Other Democratic candidates include former Rep. Katie Porter (Calif.), Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.), former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Polling released by Emerson College last month found Steyer with 4 percent support from potential California voters. The candidate who saw the most support — at 13 percent — was Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, followed by Swalwell.

Steyer was among several candidates, including fellow single-payer health care proponent Sanders, who ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. Former President Biden won the nomination and the general election.

During that run, Steyer advocated for a “Right to Health” plan to allow Americans to choose their own coverage plans, which included “offering a more affordable, competitive public option,” according to a November 2019 statement.

One month later, he criticized the Supreme Court for striking down the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and said his plan, if elected president, would “protect the ACA’s key provisions, expand its benefits for millions of Americans, and create a new public option to give Americans the choice of a quality, affordable plan.”