The California state Senate has passed a $400 billion plan that will create a government-run health care system.
Senate Bill 562, by Sens. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, and Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, passed 23-14 and will now advance to the Assembly, where it will likely be amended to include taxes. And that would mean the measure would require two-thirds votes in both chambers.
“What we did today was really approve the concept of a single-payer system in California,” Lara said in an interview after the vote.
With healthcare costs continuing to climb beyond the reach of most citizens, and no help in sight from our billionaire-run federal government, a single-payer model has gotten more and more support in California. This bill still doesn’t have a break down of how the state will pay for this program and that continues to be the biggest obstacle faced by single-payer advocates, but there is a lot of work going into coming up with scenarios by which California could afford to make this work.