When I think about the 2018 elections and the people Californians will be electing to statewide office for the next four years (many of whom will ultimately serve in these positions for eight years), it’s clear to me that we need leaders who will stand up and fight, and not be afraid to upset powerful special interest groups or even other leaders in their own political party.
Dave Jones is just that kind of leader and he has proven it to us time and time again.
As Insurance Commissioner, Dave Jones has required all health insurers to cover abortion services as an Essential Health Benefit – he may be the only state Insurance Commissioner in the country to have done so. And his leadership on this issue helped put pressure on the Governor’s Administration to ultimately do the same.
As Insurance Commissioner, Dave has strictly enforced California’s law relating to contraceptive coverage. He’s required insurers to change their drug formularies and improve their coverage for consumers.
Dave wrote the law that made it illegal for health insurers to charge women more than men for health insurance coverage.
And when the bill to require health insurers to cover maternity care was stuck in the respective Appropriations Committees in each house, he helped craft the amendments that made it possible for those bills to move forward and become law – before the ACA required maternity coverage.
Dave Jones has become an expert in reproductive rights. Dave presented compelling evidence in the lawsuit against Trump’s anti-contraceptive coverage regulations that interfere with women’s constitutionally protected right to make our own health decisions.
He is also the only candidate for Attorney General to support the passage of AB 779 to prevent fake clinics from providing false medical information to women and misleading us about our health care options, including abortion before it became state law.
He is always willing to get involved early on, stick his neck out and help make change actually happen.
Dave was the only statewide elected official to actively campaign for California to do the Medi-Cal expansion that has resulted in millions of additional Californians gaining health coverage. And he was the first statewide elected official to formally support SB 562 – the single payer bill.
California NOW has supported single payer health care for decades and has been participating in the Healthy California Coalition effort to pass SB 562. Not every organization that has taken a position in this race shares our commitment to making single payer a reality in California. Dave Jones is the only candidate for Attorney General who was on record supporting SB 562, as it was going through the legislative process last year.
These are some of the many reasons we strongly support Dave Jones in his race to become California’s next Attorney General. We hope you will join us by doing the same.
Sincerely,
Kolieka Seigle
President of California NOW
