SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Single-payer health care didn’t stand a chance in California this year.
Even in this deep-blue bastion, Democratic lawmakers shied away from legislation that would have put state government in charge of health care and taxed Californians heavily to do so — a massive transformation that would have forced them to take on the powerful health care industry.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who had promised to spearhead single-payer when he ran for governor four years ago, dashed its chances this year when he declined to publicly support it.
