A new bill introduced in the California state Senate aims to lay the groundwork for a state universal health care system, proposing an incremental approach that departs from recent sweeping, and unsuccessful, efforts to reshape how Californians receive care.
Under the measure by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), California would begin the process of seeking a waiver from the federal government to allow Medicaid and Medicare funds to be used for a first-in-the-nation single-payer health care system.
"In the wake of COVID-19's devastation, and as costs for working people have skyrocketed, the need to provide affordable health care to all Californians has never been greater," Wiener said in a statement. He touted his measure as making "tangible steps on a concrete timeline toward achieving universal and more affordable health care in California."
