One-time payer dies in California
California Representative Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, discusses his bill that would pay for the universal health care bill, during a news conference at the Capitol in Sacramento, California, Thursday, May 6. 1, 2022. On Monday, January 31, 2022,
Photo:
Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press
California is a land where progressive dreams are born, die, and reincarnate. Democrats in Sacramento last month revived the single-payer healthcare law, only to see it expire again last week. False hope appears eternally.
Democrats in the state Senate passed a bill in 2017 for a single-payer health system, but it died in the state Congress because it didn’t include revenue to pay for annual costs. 400 billion dollars. Last month, Congressional progress revived the law, plus a huge tax bill to fund it.
This includes a 2.3% excise tax on businesses with gross annual sales over $2 million; salary tax of 1.25% for employers with 50 workers or more; 1% payroll tax for workers earning over $49,900; and progressive surcharges start at 0.5% on income over $149,509 and increase to 2.5% at $2,484,121.
These sweeping tax hikes are too politically toxic even for Democrats, who believe that foreclosure taxation is a dogma. Governor Gavin Newsom lobbied for the one-time payer but declined to endorse the bill. “It’s one thing to say, it’s another thing to do,” he said last month.
Lacking enough Democratic votes to pass the bill, the progressives killed it. “I don’t believe it will serve the reason that single payers do it by voting and let it go up in flames and alienate members even further,” said San Jose Representative Ash Kalra, author the bill’s author said.
Now the retests are flying. “I am extremely disappointed that the author did not put this bill to a vote today,” said Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon. Mr Kalra blamed Mr Newsom: “It hurts when you’re trying to win votes on a policy that the Governor is setting aside despite previous pledges.”
“This is just a pause,” said Mr Kalra, adding that “we are not giving up”. The left never do.
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Appears in print February 7, 2022.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/single-payer-healthcare-dies-again-in-california-11644010999 One-time payer dies in California
