The push for a single-payer system is coming from Assembly Bill 1400, the Guaranteed Health Care for All Act. The bill passed out of committee last week and is headed for a floor vote soon.
The bill’s author, Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-District 27), defended the bill because the current health care system is a “complex, fragmented, multi-payer system” that leaves people uncovered and unable to afford coverage, he said.
“Despite health care spending in the U.S. far exceeding other high-income, industrialized countries that offer a publicly-financed single-payer system,” Kaldra said, “we consistently report worse health outcomes and disparities among vulnerable populations."
Talking about the bill on Fox News, Peter Rex, a businessman that recently moved his operations from California to Texas, said California’s government can’t keep its roads in good shape but wants to take over your health care. That is a big reason people are leaving, he said.
"I've got four kids and a wife,” he said, “and my first concern is being able to choose my family health care.”
According to an analysis of the CalCare bill by The Heritage Foundation, an estimated 2.7 million Californians lack health insurance out of the entire population of 39.5 million. About 1.2 million of the 2.7 million are already eligible for help under the Affordable Care Act or Medicaid.
"This is not about coverage," Heritage policy analyst Robert Moffit writes, "it's about control."
In an op-ed opposing the legislation, Assemblymember Marie Waldron (R-District 75) has warned CalCare would force every Californian into an “untried, state-run” medical program run by unaccountable bureaucrats.
The estimated annual cost of the program, she said, is $330 billion to $400 billion
“So, for perspective, Gov. Gavin Newsom's entire budget proposal this year,” the Republican lawmaker wrote, “is $286 billion."
Kalra has admitted CalCare would cover every California resident “regardless of citizenship status,” which is a reference to California’s population of illegal immigrants that leads all other states.
“By streamlining payments and lowering per-capita health care spending,” Kalra insisted, “CalCare guarantees quality health care and long-term care without creating barriers to care or out-of-pocket costs."
