Advances in Universal Health Care Bill in California Congress – Orange County Registry

By ADAM BEAM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California Democrats on Tuesday took the first step toward eliminating the private health insurance market in the nation’s most populous state and replacing it with a government-led plan. executive government that they promise will never deny anyone the care they need.

But the proposal to remove a legislative committee in the State Assembly is still far from becoming law. It faced strong opposition from powerful business interests, who said it would cost too much. And even if it does become law, voters will have to approve a massive income tax increase to pay for it — a vote that may not happen until 2024.

Still, Democrats praised Tuesday’s vote for kicking off one of their long-stalled policy goals and signaling that they won’t back down from a fight anytime soon. even in an election year. In an hour-long hearing, several lawmakers and advocates attacked a healthcare industry that they say has benefited businesses that consumers must bargain.

Ady Barkan, 38, a married father of two, was diagnosed with ALS six years ago and is now virtually paralyzed. He testified during Tuesday’s hearing with the help of a computerized voice that spoke as he entered text using technology that tracked his eye movements. Barkan said he fought with his private insurer for the treatment he needed, including suing them to get a ventilator to keep him alive.

“Even the good health insurance, which I have, doesn’t cover the cost of the care I need to survive,” he said.

To pay for everything, Democrats have introduced a separate bill that would raise taxes on businesses and individuals by about $163 billion a year, according to analysis by the California Taxpayers Association, which organizes taxes on businesses and individuals. oppose the bill. Voters will have to approve the tax increase. Member of Congress Ash Kalra, a Democrat from San Jose and an author of the proposal, said Tuesday it could be 2024 before that proposal is put to a vote.

The bill passed on Tuesday would create a universal health care system and set out its rules. It cleared the Congressional Health Committee with an 11-3 vote. Republicans voted no, arguing that the bill would cost too much and pay doctors and nurses less, potentially exacerbating a shortage of health care workers.

“If government-run health care becomes law, millions of Californians will leave the state — either to avoid a new $163 billion a year tax or to escape long wait times to get access to health care. care will become the norm,” said Republican Leader Marie Waldron.

Even some of the Democrats who voted for the bill have harshly criticized the proposal. Member of Congress Autumn Burke, a Democrat from Inglewood, said pushing the bill without funding was a mockery of the process.

“This bill was sold to my community that it will change the matter now and it is free. And neither of those things are true,” she said.

Business groups, led by the California Chamber of Commerce, say the government-run health care system will be so expensive that tax increases still won’t cover everything. In 2018, California’s total health care spending reached $399.2 billion, or 13.2% of the state’s gross domestic product, according to an analysis by the Healthy California for All Commission.

“Completely dismantling the current system of facing a relentless pandemic by taxing hundreds of billions of dollars annually in Californians doesn’t,” said Preston Young, a policy advocate with the California Chamber of Commerce. must be the solution.

Kalra, a San Jose Democrat and author of the proposal, said he knows opponents will focus on how much the plan will cost. But he said that argument distracts from the fact that Californians already pay “the highest health taxes in the world.”

“You can think of it as a premium, a deductible, a copay, a denial of care,” Kalra said, adding that none of those costs would exist in a universal health care system. . “It’s clear they’re devastated and too many people understandably feel helpless about it.”

California’s health care system is covered by many people – patients, insurance companies, employers, and the government. But a universal health care system would be paid for by a single entity – the government, or “single payer”.

A single payment system has been a staple of California’s progressive political rhetoric for decades. But that’s not easily done given that most people pay for private health insurance through their jobs. In 1994, voters completely rejected the ballot initiative that would have created a universal health care system. Another attempt passed the state Senate in 2017, but it never got a vote in the state Assembly.

Questions about how to pay for a single payer system have ruined previous plans. In 2011, Vermont enacted the nation’s first universal health care system. But state officials dropped it three years later because they said they couldn’t afford it.

Governor Gavin Newsom promised to do just that when he ran for governor in 2018, and voters elected him in a meltdown. But in his first three years in office, Newsom has focused more on making sure everyone in California has health insurance — a strategy he says captures the “spirit” of a single payment system.

“When you’re governor, you have to do business ‘how’,” Newsom said. “I believe in the single payer funding model. The ‘how’ at the state level is a question that needs to be answered thoughtfully”.