Written by Joseph Perez
Governor Newsom has once again shown his inability to lead our state by partnering with Blue Shield to overhaul California’s vaccine rollout. Counties across Southern California were to begin a “new and improved” vaccine rollout this week. However, no county has received instructions or guidance from Blue Shield or the State of California. So far, Blue Shield’s press team and the California Department of Public Health have been dodging questions on how they are planning to revamp vaccine rollout and what parts of the plan have already been instituted.
Blue Shield of California is the California arm of the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, which operates in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Blue Shield of California does not have a good track record in terms of patient care. According to Blue Shield’s accountable care organization partnerships (ACO’s), it has “cut the number of days patients stay in the hospital by 16% [and] reduced patient care expenditures by $480 million.” Should a company whose primary goal is to save more money than patients be placed in charge of California’s vaccine rollout? By agreeing to this partnership, Governor Newsom has once again shown his nonchalant attitude towards actually fixing one of the biggest problems our state currently faces.
Not to mention, Blue Shield of California donated graciously to Gov. Newsom’s campaign.
Officials from Fresno, Stanislaus, and San Joaquin Counties have gone on record as saying they have not received instructions from the Department of Public Health or Blue Shield of California.
As of Wednesday morning, the State of California has had over 3.5 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, and over 50 thousand lives lost.
