Despite a firm veto threat from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Senate on Thursday passed a measure along party lines to create a $200 billion state-run, single-payer health care system. The bill-SB 810-now heads to the state Assembly for consideration.
The legislation calls for the creation of the California Health System, which would be financed by using a combination of state and federal funds that California already earmarks for health care along with a payroll tax, the amount of which would be decided later.
The Medicare-for-all system would be extended to all California residents and individuals would have the opportunity to purchase private insurance to cover specific types of services not included in the government-run plan.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), closely mirrors what Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) had envisioned when he introduced an amendment last summer that would have allowed individual states to create a single-payer system.
Kucinich’s amendment, however, was quietly stripped from the House version of a health care bill on orders from the White House after the legislation was unveiled last winter.
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California Senate Approves Single-Payer Health Care Bill
Jason Leopold, Friday 29 January 2010