Doctor, hospital groups organize to oppose single-payer in California
The main focus of the coalition, called "Californians against the costly disruption of our health care," is to kill any single-payer health care bill in the state Legislature, said
"As long as proponents plan to bring this back time and again, we think it's important to have a strong, unified presence to oppose it," Wigglesworth said, referring to Senate Bill 562, the 2017 single-payer bill pushed by the
The anti-single payer coalition includes powerful groups representing the interests in
Nurses, acknowledging their high-profile effort to create a government-financed single-payer system is dead (the end of the two-year session is Friday), said the union plans to introduce another single-payer bill next year. They say anything short of that is insufficient.
"We are working on a bill," said
She said the nurses are talking to various lawmakers about legislation heading into the new two-year term, but they don't yet have an author. She said she expects Lt. Gov.
"We welcome the new leadership of our future governor,
Newsom has voiced support for single-payer, but has also said he has concerns about whether
Doctors, hospital groups and insurers are gearing up fight back next year against any single-payer bill similar in scope to last year's proposal.
"I think you're going to hear our messaging loud and clear," said
"The remaining uninsured is what we should address next," Bacchi said.
Health care industry groups were somewhat blindsided last year by the single-payer bill, authored by state Sens.
"The rapid advancement of SB 562 caught everyone by surprise," Bacchi said. "We were all individually talking about ways to improve our health care system and in the meantime, a really bad idea was speeding its way through the Legislature."
"A lot of employers provide health care, and like their employees, they're satisfied with how health care is delivered," Zaremberg said. "From a business perspective, I think they'd rather have the administration (of health care) done through the private sector rather than the government."
Coalition members said they'll be focusing their early efforts on the Legislature and the next governor, but did not rule out spending on advertising and other public messaging. Key discussions will be focused on alternative potential proposals to contain escalating costs and expand coverage to everyone regardless of immigration status or ability to pay.
Opposing sides have heard what they've wanted to hear from Newsom in the gubernatorial race. The nurses see an ally in their fight, while Newsom's comments lately indicate deep skepticism about the ability to implement single-payer, industry representatives said.
"We have spoken to
Newsom spokesman
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