Despite veto threat, CA Senate Approves Single-Payer

[G_j]

http://www.truthout.org/california-senate-approves-single-payer-health-care-bill56521

California Senate Approves Single-Payer Health Care Bill

Friday 29 January 2010
by: Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | Report

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.

..more..

[leftstreet]

1. K&R

[denverbill]

2. Do they have the votes to override his veto?n/t

[notesdev]

3. The bigger question is

even if they pass it, where's the money to pay for it coming from?

[1]

4. "a payroll tax, the amount of which would be decided later."

you know, we'll worry about that "later"...

[notesdev]

6. ah yes a payroll tax

I wonder, will it be levied on the increasing numbers of unemployed, or on the businesses that are fleeing the state at a torrential pace?

[1]

8. don't rain on the parade. it's "single payer!" and we're "california!" we don't worry about details.

like how to pay for things...

[alstephenson]

7. They could "fix" the ridiculous property tax laws.

Or raise income taxes on the rich.

[notesdev]

9. the rich

tend to have the means to do things like moving to another state

and even if they didn't, there's no way you can multiply the revenues to the state by a factor of five by doing those things. Compare the size of this proposal to the size of the state budget (which is already so severely in the red that they have issued IOUs and are daily teetering on the edge of insolvency).

[grantcart]

5. no and no money