California Senate Passes Single-Payer Plan, Major Obstacles Remain

The California Senate recently passed its plan to establish a single-payer health system in the State; however, a huge cost burden and logistical barriers will need solutions before the plan can become a reality. 

“More and more, Californians believe healthcare is a basic human right. The momentum to provide universal care is building, and the moment is right to create a single-payer plan,” State Senator Toni Atkins (D), a cosponsor of the bill, said in a press release. “Let’s be clear, there is a lot of hard work to be done on this bill. There will be numerous hearings, plenty of input from interested parties, and lots of time for the public to weigh in.”

In order to become law the bill faces a long road of obstacles, including the need to pass the California State Assembly, a public vote to exempt the law from spending restrictions, approval from the federal government to repurpose federal subsidies, and finally, a signature from Governor Jerry Brown, who has previously expressed concern about how the state can afford the system.

Those costs, reported by the Los Angeles Times as exceeding $400 billion, could kill the bill before it even gets off the ground. In order to pay for the bill, legislators will likely have to propose a blanket tax, a plan that is extremely unpopular with voters. A recent survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California found that 65% of California voters supported a single-payer system; however, support dropped to 42% of California voters when asked if they supported the system with increased taxes. A similar measure was defeated in Colorado in November, with only 20% of voters supporting it. 

“If we cut every single program and expense from the state budget and redirected that money to this bill, SB-562, we wouldn’t even cover half of the estimated $400-billion price tag,” Senator Tom Berryhill (R) said on the California Senate Floor. “Supporters of this bill have not identified funding sources because they want to sell people on false promises before telling them how they will pay for it.”

One of the bill’s sponsor’s, The California Nurses Association, proposed a plan to fund the bill by increasing the state sales tax and business receipt taxes by 2.3%, which would raise $106 billion, according to the report. They proposed that the remainder of the annual cost could be paid by federal funding, a scenario Republican opponents claim is unrealistic. —David Costill