California panel rejects government-funded healthcare

California lawmakers last week dismissed a plan popular with Democratic activists to give everyone in the state government-funded healthcare, saying a “single-payer” plan would need extensive work to become viable.

The lawmakers instead released a report recommending a variety of ways to lower healthcare costs and reduce the ranks of the uninsured. It said creating single-payer healthcare in the state would be a long-term endeavor requiring new money and legislative staff and that such a plan would likely require approval from California voters and Congress.

In the short-term, the report suggests creating a publicly run option for low-income patients on Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, extending Medi-Cal to cover people living in the country illegally, fining people who don’t have insurance coverage and collecting all health claims in a database to improve transparency and coordination.