California GOP lambastes Democratic healthcare plan

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Republicans across the country are interpreting Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts this week as a national rebuke of President Obama’s push for expanded healthcare coverage. So when state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) revived his plan for universal healthcare today, Republicans here were quick to pounce.

‘California Democrats are either tone-deaf or delusional. They’re determined to double-down on a $200-billion healthcare plan that voters don’t want and taxpayers can’t afford,’ said state Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring.

Leno’s measure, which has been killed twice before in California, would have the state create a nonprofit healthcare system to supplant private insurers and provide coverage for all residents. Leno’s bill, SB 810, was passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee today. That sets the stage for a vote by the full Senate by Jan. 29.

Deborah Burger, a president of the California Nurses Assn., acknowledged that the single-payer bill probably would not get a different reaction from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who vetoed a nearly identical measure in 2008, saying it would cost $210 billion the first year to implement.

But Burger said having the Legislature pass it would serve to continue to educate the public on what she sees as the advantages of a state-administered and state-funded health insurance system in which private doctors would continue to provide care.

‘It’s significant because it shows there is still strong support for Medicare for all,’ Burger said.

Leno said that if the bill he authored does not become law this year, there probably would be an effort to put the measure on the state ballot.

-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento