Zócalo's Connecting California
Single-payer skepticism
Is a single-payer healthcare system right for California? A lot of the state's leading politicians are touting single-payer, but Zocalo columnist Joe Mathews says their plan lacks dollars and sense.
By Joe Mathews • • 5m ListenSingle-payer healthcare – basically Medicaid for all – is all-the-rage among liberals, and nowhere more so than in California. Proponents like Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and Senator Kamela Harris insist it's the best way to guarantee health coverage for everyone. They want to California to adopt it even if the rest of the country sticks with a mix of public and private coverage. But one estimate puts the cost at more than $400 billion annually in California. That's more than twice the state's general fund. So how would we pay it for it? Zócalo Public Square columnist Joe Mathews says that even backers don't have an answer.
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