Single Payer Moves Forward In California

Randy Bayne reports that Sheila Kuehl's single-payer health care bill, SB 840, passed the Senate Health Committee which she chairs on a party-line vote, and so did the companion bill (SB 1014) which describes how it would be funded. Randy's post details the hearings on the subject, and it's a good read.

There's some more here, but essentially, Kuehl's bill signs up all residents of California for health care through a tax, split between payroll and employers. There are additional taxes on investment income. This will of course be the big stumbling block, because the numbers for taxation sound big. But ultimately, the cost to everyone in California is likely to be cheaper than the current costs of our broken employer-based health care, without getting into details.

Kuehl, my Senator, is doing the absolute right thing in continuing to push for transformational change in our health care system, and building popular support along the way. She will continue to pass the bill until somebody signs it, and this puts more pressure on the governor, especially in this year that he said would be a year of health care reform. Now he still hasn't gotten a sponsor for his plan, but Kuehl's bill is moving forward. By having that out there early, the pressure increases for compromise to go to SB840 rather than away from it.