<UNDER CONSTRUCTION - MORE TO COME>
Are we big enough (population over 40 million), wealthy enough (5th largest economy in the world if we were were a nation on our own) and progressive enough (legislature and governor) to move on our own to institute a statewide single-payer universal care program? Could we be the test case that proves and paves a road for the nation? Certainly this has long been suggested, and over the past 25 years we’ve come close several times to initiating such major healthcare reforms. However, California will need a US Congress and administration willing to grant waivers allowing California to pool all funds received from a range of Federal health insurance programs - Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans’ care and many more. May be possible soon?
State proposals
Several single-payer state referendums and bills from state legislatures have been proposed, but with the exception of Vermont, all have failed.[76] In December 2014, Vermont canceled its plan for single-payer health care.[77]
California
California attempted passage of a single-payer bill as early as 1994, and the first successful passages of legislation through the California State Legislature, SB 840 or "The California Universal Healthcare Act" (authored by Sheila Kuehl), occurred in 2006 and again in 2008.[78][79] Both times, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill.[80] State Senator Mark Leno has reintroduced the bill in each legislative session since.[81]
On February 17, 2017, SB 562, which is also known as "The Healthy California Act" was introduced to the California State Senate.[82] This bill is a $400 billion plan that was sponsored by the California Nurses Association to implement single-payer healthcare in California.[83] Under this bill, which was co-authored by State Senators Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), Californians would have health coverage without having to pay any premiums, co-pays, or deductibles.[83] Under this proposed bill, all California residents will be covered in the Healthy California Act SB 562 regardless of their immigration status.[84] This bill will also include transient students that attend California institutions whom, purchased their healthcare program through the school.[84] Services that will be covered by this bill will need to determine as medically necessary by the patient's chosen health care provider.[84] These services will range from preventable services to emergency services, in addition to prescription drugs services.[84] SB 562 passed in the State Senate on June 1, 2017 with a vote of 23-14.[82] When the bill was sent to the State Assembly, it was put on hold by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon,[85] who expressed concern over financing. Although the bill was put on hold, there are hopes it will be revived so it can be reviewed again by both the State Senate and State Assembly.[86] In 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed a commission to study the feasibility of adopting a single-payer system in California.[87]
According to SB-562, a Healthy California Trust Fund would be established to provide funding for the bill. Currently, states receive funding from the federal government for certain healthcare services such as Medicaid and Medicare. In addition to taxes, these funds would be pooled into the new trust fund and provide the sources of funding needed to implement The Healthy California Act. However, California must first obtain a waiver from the federal government which would allow California to pool all the money received from these federal programs into one central fund.[84]
In late 2019 Governor Gavin Newsom launched the Healthy California for All Commission and “appointed health experts in business, philanthropy, academia and labor” to work “to develop a plan for advancing progress toward achieving a health care delivery system for California that provides coverage and access through a unified financing system, including, but not limited to a single payer financing system. The Commission will prepare an initial report to the Governor and Legislature by July 2020 with a final report in February 2021.”
The commission schedule and meetings with testimony from various experts are shown live as well as recorded and available online at:
https://cadem.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Final-CDP-Platform-2020-2.pdf (pages 14-15)
"California Democrats believe that health care is a human right not a privilege. We recognizes the health and well-being of Californians cannot continue to be based on arbitrary private and public financial decisions and therefore advocates legislation to create and implement a publicly funded (single-payer), privately delivered, fiscally tractable, affordable, comprehensive, secure, high-quality, efficient, and sustainable health care system for all Californians." Ballotpedia: https://ballotpedia.org/Democratic_Party_of_California
"We oppose government-mandated health care plans that restrict freedom of choice, and we oppose the bureaucratic restrictions of single-payer plans. We support restructuring Medicaid to restrict elective, medically-unnecessary surgeries while increasing the compensation to doctors and hospitals for necessary surgeries and other treatments." Ballotpedia: https://ballotpedia.org/Republican_Party_of_California
CONTACT: health@marinlwv.org