| Photo by Marek Studzinski on Unsplash
Part IV of “Cancer/Medical Moonshot–NA/ASEAN” Series
This article discusses how a California governor can help North America and ASEAN end a global nursing shortage by 2030. The state government can also structure the funding of a universal healthcare-based campaign against cancer and other top-ten killer diseases.
If California gubernatorial aspirant Xavier Becerra wins the election, his excellent record as a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is crucial. He has the experience and credentials to provide visionary leadership in healthcare. He can organize a bipartisan, multiethnic alliance for healthcare not only in California but also across North America and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). And their more-than-one-billion inhabitants and usher them into their local version of a collective Healthcare Promised Land.
Mexico, Canada, and ASEAN are included in this proposal. Why? Collaborative international efforts have demonstrated that pooling drug purchases, for instance, can save millions and make essential medicines more affordable, even more so when they are produced by the research-and-development components of medical-center projects within the healthcare alliance.
The first step is to consider a previous column article and let the new governor’s economic staff and advisers turn the proposals they approve into feasibility studies. On April 15, 2026, this columnist posted this Intro Note to his biweekly column, “The Straphanger,” in many Facebook Groups. In today’s economic crisis, marginalized families are prioritizing food, rent, utilities, and transportation over medicine and medical care. Poor families cannot afford basic healthcare, especially medical insurance. Resorting to ERs is the only option, but it increases healthcare costs that many local governments cannot sustain. Rural hospitals are closing due to a lack of financial support.
Please read why Cooperative Economics is the only feasible way of living — co-op style — that can bring affordable healthcare and continue the campaign against cancer and other deadly diseases. Yes, “Only Cooperative Economics Can Save Healthcare and War on Cancer”
There are many small businesses that community cooperatives can operate — from grocery stores to coffee shops, pharmacies, and more. The U.S. Peace Corps-style Governor’s Office of Service and Community Engagement can assist with organizing co-ops and training members and co-op officers. More details can be presented at community meetings held in a town hall style.
Google summarized and commented on the article: The perspective that cooperative economics is the only path to saving healthcare and the “War on Cancer” stems from the argument that the current profit-driven model has “privatized cancer,” prioritizing market gains over patient outcomes. Proponents of this view, as featured in the Philippine Daily Mirror, argue that the traditional “War on Cancer” is a faulty metaphor. This columnist argues, however, that what should be done is to simplify complex biological processes with the efficiency of a military structure, thereby enabling the efficient allocation of resources. After all, a state runs a National Guard system.
“Poor families cannot afford basic healthcare, especially medical insurance. Resorting to ERs is the only option, but it increases healthcare costs that many local governments cannot sustain. Rural hospitals are closing due to a lack of financial support.”
Core Arguments for Cooperative Economics Access vs. Profit: Privatized systems often lead to “financial toxicity,” where patients face extreme economic burdens that reduce treatment utilization and worsen survival outcomes. Besides, modern biomedical research is increasingly risky for private investors; cooperative models can share these risks and ensure funding for early-stage breakthroughs.
Cooperative systems are more likely to invest in population-based prevention (e.g., tobacco control), which is significantly more cost-effective than treatment. Organizations like the American Cancer Society can invest in research and development to find causes and cures, primarily through personal donations and foundations. Naming rights can also generate substantial funding as well as investments in cooperatives, especially those that will undertake the operation of the so-called Memorial-Tree Park ventures that will help the community’s environment.
While the cooperative model is proposed as a solution, the existing system relies on a mix of stakeholders. Regarding healthcare, federal and state governments can fund the majority of basic research, identifying the “operating systems” of disease that the healthcare industry then develops into treatments. State-government agencies can invest in cooperatives, as well as the state employees’ retirement and pension funds can join public-private partnerships.
Some economic evaluations suggest that a more organized campaign against cancer and other debilitating diseases can be highly successful. It can create billions of greenbacks in social value through increased life expectancy and continued employment of cancer survivors and those cured of other major diseases.
According to Cancer Institutes, global cooperation and equity narrowing the “cancer divide” requires concerted international efforts, especially in low-resource areas where simple interventions—like cervical-cancer screening—can save years of life for less than $500. Experts emphasize that addressing structural determinants of health, such as income inequality and systemic racism, is essential for a sustainable healthcare system.
Further studies are needed to evaluate how cooperative insurance models specifically compare to private or socialized systems in terms of cancer survival rates.
The next step is to discuss the impending nursing shortage of some 13 million Nightingales by 2030, according to the World Health Organization. The summary of several column articles about said shortage will be summarized in the next article, due next Wednesday. The new governor of California should have a track record of bridging bipartisan coalitions with the private sector to support the education and Board certification of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of nurses and other medical professionals.
