Coalition Urges Cal Assembly to Scuttle 'Job Killer' Single-Payer Bill

Opponents of the CalCare single payer bill say it "would create a new and exorbitantly expensive government bureaucracy…ultimately resulting in significant job loss to California."

A broad coalition of 122 business and professional associations is urging the California Assembly to scuttle AB 1400 -- the proposed CalCare single payer bill -- saying it "would create a new and exorbitantly expensive government bureaucracy…ultimately resulting in significant job loss to California."

In a letter to lawmakers, the coalition – led by the California Chamber of Commerce, and including Anthem, Inc., and Blue Shield of California – said previous estimates of similar bills put the cost of the single-payer initiative at more than $400 billion a year, roughly four times the size of Medi-Cal.

"Successfully standing up a new function that would be twice the size of the existing state budget is highly doubtful, given the state’s recent experience with benefit delays and massive fraud in the unemployment system," the letter said.

"The kinds of tax increases needed to finance AB 1400 would detrimentally impact California businesses and certainly discourage companies from growing or relocating here," the letter said. "It would likely lead to significant layoffs or relocations as existing business and employers would be forced to cut costs to sustain the added new tax burden."

In addition, the coalition argued that single payer is not needed because 94% of Californians have healthcare coverage now.

"A majority of the uninsured population is comprised of undocumented individuals," the letter said. "Gov. Newsom's 2022-2023 Budget addresses this very issue and would make California the first state to offer healthcare coverage for all income-eligible residents regardless of immigration status."