(JUST THE NEWS) – California lawmakers re-introduced a proposal to mandate universal healthcare and ban private healthcare. Experts say this would cost $391 billion per year — or $100 billion more than the entire 2024-2025 state budget and reduce the overall availability of healthcare as doctors flee to higher-paying states that allow private care.
According to Politico, Assemblymember Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, will introduce a version of his 2023 bill to create a single-payer healthcare system and ban private care. After passing the Assembly’s health and appropriations committees, AB 1400 was shelved by the Assembly Speaker due to lack of a financing mechanism. Kalra’s plan is to pass a bill, see how much the federal government would pay via Medicare and Medicaid contributions, then go to the legislature for remaining funding. It is unclear how to pay for the $300-500 billion bill given the state’s projected $68 billion deficit this year on a $291.5 billion budget.
According to the Tax Foundation, variation in the bill’s cost depends on whether the federal government will allow for use of Medicare and Medicaid funding towards the system. With federal healthcare funding, the additional cost to state taxpayers would be $300 billion, or approximately $12,500 per household — or $500 billion without federal funding.
