“Most people don’t listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to reply.”
— Stephen Covey
Recent enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will have significant and lasting effects on health care nationally and in the state of California. Addressing those impacts will require collaboration, partnership, and new thinking. But it all starts with listening.
Last week, CHA — along with representatives from other health care organizations (clinics, doctors, insurance companies, and more) — sat down with state Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Johnson and her team; their goal was to listen to those most affected by the new law about their significant concerns in the short and long term, as well as potential strategies to address those concerns. We hope this is the start of a meaningful and ongoing discussion with the state about critically needed next steps in revising a health care system that can continue to meet the needs of Californians.
This week, I participated in a CHA-hosted virtual listening/briefing session for key members of the state Legislature and their staffs. Am pleased that state Sens. Akilah Weber Pierson, MD (D-San Diego), Susan Rubio (D-West Covina), and Laura Richardson (D-Inglewood), along with state Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-San Luis Obispo), joined the conversation with key legislative staff.
And thanks to Carolyn Caldwell, President/CEO, St. Mary Medical Center; James Jackson, CEO, Alameda Health System; and Jonathan Ma, CFO, Sutter Health, for telling their stories about the expected impact of OBBBA on their organizations. It was another opportunity for those who we will need to partner with to hear and understand, from hospital leaders on the ground, how OBBBA will affect their ability to provide care and how we must partner if we are to build a better mousetrap.
Two more legislative hearings are scheduled for next week to share similar information and ideas, and — most importantly — to listen to one another.
The path forward will be challenging. We will all be asked to do more with less. And we will all have to make uncomfortable decisions.
That may mean moving faster than usual. It may mean shedding entrenched beliefs and biases about the state’s health care system. It may mean rethinking longstanding ways of doing things. It may require extraordinary courage by our elected officials to make difficult political choices.
As we all begin to formulate ideas about how to adapt to this new health care paradigm, we’ll be wise to consider that if we are going to do great things, we must do them together. And that starts with listening.
