California politicians aren’t sitting around waiting to see what becomes of Obamacare reform on Capitol Hill; the state Senate Health Committee voted 5-2 in favor of a single-payer bill for Californians on Wednesday.
Sponsored by state senators Ricardo Lara and Toni Atkins, the bill—as the Los Angeles Times noted back in February–would institute a state-run health care plan that would cover everyone living within California, regardless of immigration status. The government would then pay for all medical expenses and prohibit insurers from offering similar benefits, among other details.
“With today’s vote we are closer to being able to say, once and for all, that healthcare is not a privilege, it’s a human right,” Lara said in a statement. “Every family, every child, every senior deserves healthcare that costs less and covers more, and California has a chance to lead the rest of the nation toward universal care.”
This is not the first time a state has considered such a policy, or even the first time California has. Vermont thought about such a plan in 2011 but scrapped it three years later after the government had a hard time implementing the law. When Arnold Schwarzenegger was the governor of California, he vetoed single-payer legislation twice, in 2006 and 2008. And Colorado defeated a single-payer measure on the ballot last November.
Yet, as congressional Republicans continue to deliberate on ways to scale back Obamacare, backers of the California bill think that the timing is ripe for an overhaul of the state’s health care system. Questions, however, remain over how the state government would fund the program.
Those who favor the bill mentioned the large amount of support—particularly from labor groups —and said that it would be the best way to provide coverage for all residents.
RoseAnn DeMoro, Executive Director of the California Nurses Association (the bill’s main organizational sponsor), noted: “The most important thing today was the breadth and depth of support by the dozens of people lining up to back the bill, representing 250 organizations across the state. These are organizers who are going to be with us to make the Healthy California Act the law of the land in California.”
“California businesses would also see major savings, as workers would no longer be dependent on their employers for health coverage with the rising costs so endemic to a profit-first system,” Healthy California—a pro-single-payer coalition—claimed in last month’s press release. “Workers would gain by not facing limits on employer-sponsored plans and the escalating cost shifting for premiums and other health costs that have been steadily increasing in recent years.”
Opponents, however, have concerns about the quality and cost of such a program.
According to the Associated Press, California Association of Health Plans President and CEO Charles Bacchi said that “California can’t afford a single-payer health care system. It’s going to reduce the quality of care. We think it will restrict access to care, and it will be incredibly disruptive to all the Californians who currently get health care coverage through their employer.”
The California Chamber of Commerce also declared on Wednesday that it would be a “job-killer” as the new system would “penalize responsible employers and individuals and result in significant new taxes on all Californians and California businesses.”
The group then went on to claim that “significant budget shortfalls that will likely occur year after year would ultimately require drastic cuts in services. SB 562 will reduce the level and quality of health care and benefits currently enjoyed by millions of Californians.”
