Single-payer health care would cost more than California budget

Creating a single-payer health care system in California would cost $400 billion a year — including $200 billion in new tax revenue, according to an analysis of legislation released Monday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

[...] the cost of the new tax would be partially offset by reduced spending on health care coverage by employers and employees — which is how nearly half of Californians receive health insurance.

Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County), and Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, which seeks to transform California’s multipayer health system into a single-payer fee-for-service program that would cover all 39 million residents.

The analysis suggests the single-payer plan may not produce savings in the health system overall, said Larry Levitt, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

California voters have also rejected the single-payer concept, voting down a ballot initiative in 1994 that would have created a health care system administered and financed by the state.

Republicans oppose a single-payer system, believing it would carry a high price tag and take away individuals’ right to choose their coverage.

To do that is to take some of the profits out of things like drug manufacturing, medical devices and (health maintenance organizations).