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State: Calif. Young: Single-Payer Update: [2017-06-07] |
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Senate Bill 562 (the Healthy California Act) passed the California Senate on a 23-14 vote last week. The bill, to create a California single-payer health care system for all state residents, now goes to the Assembly for consideration. If passed by the Assembly (likely) and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (perhaps not so likely), California workers’ comp would eventually be entirely reshaped along with the rest of the California health care system. How this would work is not clear, but the bill requires a study of how workers’ comp medical services should be covered under a proposed California single-payer system. My last post focused on SB 562 and noted a Senate committee analysis that put a $400 billion price tag on the proposal. There are many hurdles, including unknown financing or taxes. Several things happened since my last post. SB 562 was amended to include the following provision:
A cynic could say that this gives politicians a way to cast a popular vote knowing that the result is not likely to happen. Supporters may say that this is just an early step in this bold, aspirational process. In recent days an alternative analysis of SB 562 was unveiled, this one by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, done by Robert Pollin, James Heinz, Peter Arno and Jeannette Wicks-Lim. They claim that California single payer could achieve significant savings:
Instead of the California Senate's $400 billion price tag, U. Mass Amherst estimates that California single payer would cost $331 billion. Assuming that the federal government would agree to send California $225 billion (federal cost of various federal health programs), there would be a $106 billion shortfall. That means higher taxes for Californians. The U. Mass Amherst study does not focus on workers’ comp medical spending, which isn’t surprising, since SB 562 really is vague about how that spending might be handled under single payer. So are we seeing the first signs of sun rising on a new era that will eventually fold California workers’ comp into “24 Hour Care?" Hard to know now. Clearly a significant slice of California Democrats aren’t willing to wait around to see how the political winds blow for the Affordable Care Act or the American Health Care Act. Given the deep hole Democrats are in nationally, single payer on a national level might not occur for a decade or more. Opponents of SB 562 might well get opposition in primaries. I expect it to pass, but have no idea what the governor will do. SB 562 is sponsored by the California Nurses Association, and here is an update on its proposal. Julius Young is a claimants' attorney for the Boxer & Gerson law firm in Oakland. This column was reprinted with his permission from his blog, www.workerscompzone.com. |