The latest attempt to bring a single-payer healthcare system to California failed in the state Legislature on Thursday, undermined by its high price tag as lawmakers grapple with a growing budget deficit.
Assembly Bill 2200, called Guaranteed Health Care for All, or CalCare, hoped to establish a single-payer universal health care system for all California residents, but it died Thursday in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) said he was “deeply disappointed” that he died so soon.
“I looked forward to introducing the bill in the Assembly and was confident that it would pass,” Kalra said in a statement. “Missing the opportunity to advance the bill this year means more unnecessary delays in health care reform, allowing unnecessary suffering and economic injustice to continue harming Californians.”
“We have an obligation to balance the budget in California,” said Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), the committee chair. “There were some difficult decisions to make.”
Wicks said she co-authored a previous single-payer health care bill, but told reporters that lawmakers had to weigh the financial burdens that accompanied this sweeping proposal.
CalCare was projected to cost the state $392 billion annually. Meanwhile, California is grappling with a $45 billion deficit. Kalra said there is “significant potential for cost savings” with a single-payer model.
“I am a great believer. But at the end of the day it is a very expensive task, one that is worthwhile and one that we should continue, as the years go by, trying to implement,” he said. “But it was a difficult decision to make given the current budget environment we find ourselves in.”
“During difficult economic times, CalCare is needed more than ever. Today’s setback is frustrating, but only temporary in our long-term campaign to pass CalCare,” said Sandy Reding, a registered nurse and president of the California Nurses Association, a strong supporter of single-payer. “CalCare is not a question of if, but when. CalCare has to be implemented.”
Just two days ago, volunteers from the California Nurses Association. they were calling state legislators in hopes of a better outcome. Kalra joined the nurses and told them to “fight like hell” as a crowd of defenders applauded.
“There's no one I'd rather fight with than nurses,” he said.
