Single-Payer Plan Is Politics, Not Policy

by John Wildermuth, Fox and Hounds

If
you ever wonder why the Legislature’s popularity with California voters
is at 16 percent and falling, you only have to know that state Sen.
Mark Leno has reintroduced a plan to bring single-payer health care to
the state.

Here’s all anyone needs to know about the chances of passing single-payer health insurance in California this year:

1. A Senate analysis of the bill, SB 810, found that it would cost the state $200 billion the first year.

2. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed nearly identical measures twice before and promises to do it again.

3. California already is looking at slashing basic services for
children, the poor, the elderly and the disabled in a desperate effort
to close a $20 billion budget deficit.

But that’s not going to stop the usual suspects from revving up
the troops for another round of political Kabuki, a highly stylized
theater piece where everyone knows from the start how it’s going to
end.

The fun started earlier this month with a march through
downtown Sacramento and a rally on the steps of the Capitol, with
marchers chanting, ‘Single-payer for our state, right now, we can’t
wait.’

‘Don’t let anyone say we can’t afford single-payer,’ Leno told the crowd. ‘We can’t afford not to have single-payer.’

The bill moved out of the Senate Appropriations Committee last
Thursday on a straight party line vote and now goes to the Senate
floor. If past-year’s form holds true, it will pass with support only
from Democrats and then move to the Assembly, where it will be approved
without a Republican vote.

After a few days of cheering from supporters, Schwarzenegger
will veto the bill and single-payer will disappear for another year.

They’ll be plenty of noise in the meantime. The Orange County Register already has run an editorial
headlined ‘Go West, Obamacare,’ while Republicans and other
conservatives are complaining that the bill shows just how out-of-touch
California Democrats are with the new tea-party reality sweeping the
nation.

‘California Democrats are either tone-deaf or delusional,’ said Ron Nehring, chairman of the California Republican Party.

Progressive Democrats, for their part, argue that it’s time
someone stood up to the insurance companies and that tough economic
times make it even more important to guarantee that every Californian
has access to high-quality, affordable health care.

‘Health care is a right, not a privilege,’ the Consumer Federation of California said in a position paper.

What’s frustrating about the entire single-payer legislative
dance is that health care and health insurance are incredibly important
issues for Californians. Various types of single-payer plans are used
in countries around the world system and the state needs to have a
detailed discussion about why it would or would not work here.

That’s not going to happen this year. Leno’s bill doesn’t even
include the answer to the obvious question ‘How much is this going to
cost me’? It does, however, call for establishment of a commission that
will ‘develop an equitable and affordable premium structure that will
generate adequate revenue.’

A serious bill would talk about where, exactly, the $200
billion a year is going to come from and just how California will be
able to afford a single-payer system at a time when the budget is awash
in red ink.

But that’s what a serious bill would do and this isn’t a
serious bill. For Democrats, it’s a feel-good vote that lets them show
their supporters that they feel their pain, without having to face the
possibility of actually having to make a single-payer system work in
California.

It’s no better on the GOP side of the aisle. Republicans will
win political points with their conservative backers by attacking a
single-payer plan and ignoring the millions of Californians who would
like to see them come up with a health-care alternative.

When single-payer disappears from the political radar for
another year, both Republicans and Democrats will be able to say that
they fought the good fight.

And Californians will be reminded again of why they hate the Legislature.