Could a single-payer healthcare plan be on the horizon?
Antonio Villaraigosa thinks he has a solid weapon to hammer Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom with as they run for governor. He could stand a chance with the plan that he has. Newsom has strong support for creating a state-run, single-payer health insurance program. But how likely is this to happen?
Voters should know that the current single-payer bill pending in the Legislature would require a dramatic doubling of state taxes plus Sacramento taking over popular federal Medicare. It also would necessitate the Trump administration and the Republican Congress cooperating with this state’s liberal leadership. The feds would need to turn over to the state all the Medicare and Medicaid money it spends in California — around $150 billion annually.
In all, a state-operated, single-payer healthcare plan would cost around $400 billion a year, according to objective analysis. Let’s put that in perspective: Gov. Jerry Brown’s total state spending proposal for the next fiscal year is less than half that amount — $190 billion. Some could say that fiscally and politically, the notion of state single-payer system is a pipe dream.
Currently, various governments kick in around $200 billion annually for healthcare in California. Of that, the feds spend $150 billion. If all that could be corralled into one Sacramento pot — extremely unlikely — the state would still need to raise another $200 billion.
Private employers could be taxed. They’d no longer have to provide workers with medical insurance. But the state still would need to raise an additional $100 billion in taxes from Californians, give or take.
Newsom continually points to a San Francisco universal healthcare program created when he was mayor as proof that he can make a single-payer plan work for all California. But then we are equating that little San Francisco program to a massive statewide undertaking.
Villaraigosa says he favors universal healthcare nationally but doesn’t have a clue how a single-payer plan could work in just one state.
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