This week, the Assembly Select Committee on Health Care Delivery
Systems and Universal Coverage met for its last two hearings. The
committee is tasked with exploring the concept of universal
health care in California and has met six times since last fall.
During its penultimate hearing on Monday, the Committee discussed
implementation considerations for universal coverage, including
how federal law supersedes state law changes and how any
financing scheme would be subject to state constitutional
concerns.
In yesterday’s final meeting, the committee discussed the bill in
question, SB 562 (Lara and Atkins), which is sponsored by the
California Nurses Association. SB 562 proposes a single-payer
framework for the California health care system, but lacks any
detail on financing such a system.
The Committee is expected to release a report with findings from
the hours of hearings later this spring. Agendas and
materials for all six of the committee hearings are available
here.
