TASK FORCE ON HEALTH
“In California women’s and girls’ health needs can only be achieved by establishing health care as a right”


Co-Chairs: 
Roma Guy, Director, Bay Area Homelessness Program 
Charleen Toledo, SUSCOL Tribal Indian Council 
Caroline Marks 

VISION STATEMENT

To Establish Health Care as a right in California for all women and girls, including all of those of diverse socio-economic and legal status, physical and emotional condition, age, sexuality or where they live in California.

Health Care as a right establishes a new standard of care and new standards of equal access and public accountability for where and how public and private health resources are expended. It provides a more comprehensive approach to meet the special and complex needs of any given Californian population of women and girls. For example, gender related reproductive care of needed services for older women as compared to girl children in infancy. As long as we have a privileged health care system, not a system based on health care as a right, and as long as we do not make it a priority to build a consensus for some formally structured universal health care system of program and services including data collection and research, health services will continue to be fragmented and unequal, redundant and inefficient no matter how committed, competent any one person or group of providers, activists or policy makers are.

RECOMMENDATIONS

  • Accessible and equitable primary Health Care for all residents of California;
  • Cultural- and ability-appropriate health services for California women and girls;
  • Appropriate and adequate data collection and research to improve the health of California women and girls;
  • Accessible, safe and age appropriate reproductive health care for all California girls and women.