Governor Newsom signed a bill that moves the state to a single-payer health care system. Not all single-payer supporters are happy.
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California on Oct. 7 took at least a potential step toward becoming the first state in the country to offer health insurance to all residents through a state-run single-payer system. Not all single-payer supporters are That was a pleasure. In fact, their key factions remain in turmoil.
The California Nursing Association, which has long been California’s leading single-payer advocate, has dismissed SB 770 as an irrelevant measure that will only slow progress toward single-payer.
why? The bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate Bill 770, takes a slow approach toward creating a single-payer system – a much more sweeping bill that would introduce a single-payer system called CalCare. 18 months after it was rejected by Congress without a vote. Actually SB770 represents the 10th attempt Since 1994, we have created single-payer health insurance in California.
Obviously, everything went awry.
What is single-payer health insurance?
In the current system, many actors pay for health care services, from private insurance companies to government agencies to patients themselves.under single payer system, as the name suggests, only one entity pays the bill. It’s usually the government.
Single-payer is often accused by opponents of being “socialized medicine.” But there is a big difference. Under a socialized medical system, the government owns and operates all medical facilities, not just picking up the tab for services. Doctors, nurses, and all other medical professionals are on the government’s payroll.
Even if the government no longer owns medical facilities, a single-payer system would replace private health insurance, effectively forcing those companies out of business. The defunct CalCare plan included a provision that allowed workers in the private health insurance industry who lost their jobs to receive financial assistance and retraining.
Funding for health care in a single-payer system would come from taxes, but most health care costs are already covered by the government through programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Funds currently being spent on these programs would be redirected to a single-payer system once it is in place.
New law requires states to issue reports
Directing these funds is at the heart of SB 770. States that wish to use Medicare and Medicaid funds for their own single-payer systems must obtain permission from the federal government in the form of a waiver.of This bill would direct the California Department of Health and Human Services to Agency Secretary (Currently Dr. Mark Gary) Submit a report by June 2025 detailing how California will obtain its exemption.
The health secretary would also be required to submit a preliminary report by January 2025 on how the state would implement a single-payer system or other forms of universal health coverage. The final report is expected to be submitted by November of the same year.
No other state has a single-payer program. Vermont passes a bill But three years later, then-Governor Phil Shumlin—then campaign on a promise To introduce the system, he put the brakes on the entire process, declaring that “the time is not right” for a single-payer system.
But the California Nursing Association, which has long been the state’s leading single-payer advocacy group, dismissed SB 770 as an irrelevant measure that would only slow progress towards a single-payer system. Carmen Comsti, a policy expert at the nurses’ union, said: Los Angeles Times He argued that the bill was unnecessary because state-mandated investigations were already in place.
SB 770 is simply a waste of time and money, he told the paper. CNA President Sandy Redding said the bill was “a complete betrayal of nurses’ fight for single-payer health care policy,” according to a report on the political site. roll call.
CNA supports Another bill, Assembly Bill 1690It consists of just one sentence: “A comprehensive, universal, single-payer health care program that benefits all residents of the state, providing access, affordability, and equity to all Californians.” It is the purpose of Congress to ensure quality health care.”
But AB 1690 never passed Congress.
