Even California can’t make the math work.
Speaker Anthony Rendon called the bill “woefully incomplete.”
“Even senators who voted for SB 562 noted there are potentially fatal flaws in the bill,” the Los Angeles-area Democrat said in a statement.
The bill, which has passed the Senate, lays out a plan for a government-run health system in California, but it doesn’t include a way to pay for it. Rendon said the bill also doesn’t adequately address delivery of care and cost.
The bill has an estimated price tag of $400 billion per year. Paying for it would require new taxes and cooperation from President Donald Trump’s administration to redirect existing federal money.
It would guarantee health care for all California residents and eliminate out-of-pocket costs for consumers, like copays and deductibles.
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Rendon suggested the Senate draft a new version of the bill that addresses how to finance the plan and more clearly details how it would work. He also suggested the plan could be taken to voters in the form of a ballot measure. In the meantime, he said he would not advance the bill through the Assembly committee process.