Report: California Liberals Furious at Failure of Single-payer Health Care

Left-wing Democrats in California are reportedly furious at the failure last week of the California State Assembly to pass a “single-payer” health care proposal, despite the fact that the party has a supermajority in both houses of the state legislature.

As Breitbart News reported, the bill, which would have raised taxes on both rich and working-class Californians to pay for state-run health insurance that covered illegal aliens as well as everyone else, failed after opposition to the staggering cost:

The proposal for “CalCare” attracted support from left-wing “progressives” — and strong opposition from business groups, who pointed out that a similar policy had already failed recently in Vermont, the home of socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The proposal would have required $163 billion in new taxes — and not just on the wealthy. (By comparison, the entire proposed state budget for California this year is an already-staggering $286.4 billion; single-payer would add 57%.)

The State Senate passed a single-payer health care bill in 2017, but failed to explain how it would be paid for, leading the State Assembly to drop it, and prompting death threats to flood the office of Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Los Angeles).

This time, Politico reported, Rendon was involved in shaping the legislation.

But it failed to win enough votes, sparking fear that it would not be easily revived — and prompting calls to back primary candidates to challenge moderate incumbents:

The health care defeat is just the latest setback for the progressive movement amid signs the party is recalibrating its stances on policing and criminal justice. Elected officials from San Francisco to New York City have ramped up their tough-on-crime rhetoric in response to an uptick in violent incidents and a rash of organized property crimes that have left Democrats vulnerable to political attacks from the right.

…

“This was a moment of maximum leverage for progressives,” said one Democratic lawmaker who asked not to be named in order to speak candidly, “and their failure to even get a vote was a huge defeat.”

The debate has driven wider schisms between liberal and moderate Democrats and fomented campaign threats against incumbents unwilling to support the bill — a tactic that failed in the days before the vote and may have even backfired.

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The issue is certain to continue animating Democratic campaigns in California. Jennifer Esteen, a nurse and vocal single-payer advocate who is seeking an open Assembly seat, said she hoped supporters could channel their disappointment into electing more single-payer Democrats.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who courted “progressives” in 2018 by pledging to support single-payer health care, was notably silent on the bill, having retreated from his stance in the past several months in favor of more supposedly pragmatic goals.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.