New California bill tries an incremental approach to single-payer

Los Angeles Times / March 21, 2023

A new bill introduced in the California state Senate aims to lay the groundwork for a state universal healthcare system, proposing an incremental approach that departs from recent sweeping, and unsuccessful, efforts to reshape how Californians receive care.

Under the measure by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), California would begin the process of seeking a waiver from the federal government to allow Medicaid and Medicare funds to be used for a first-in-the-nation single-payer healthcare system.

MORE: https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-03-21/california-single-payer-healthcare-scott-wiener

FROM THE LINK: Wiener’s legislation takes a decidedly more modest tack from earlier bills, focusing solely on the federal waiver process. Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers and a supporter of the bill, said this approach reflects lessons learned from the failure of two hotly contested, more comprehensive measures (they were expensive -- estimates ranged from $341 billion and $391 billion).

More on the waiver process: https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/sites/default/files/nnu/documents/1221_CalCare_Waivers_Flyer_Ver3.pdf