‘Woefully incomplete’ universal health bill dead for the year in California

Sac Bee-

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon put the brakes on a sweeping plan to overhaul the health care market in California Friday, calling the bill “woefully incomplete.”

Rendon announced plans to park the bill to create a government-run universal health care system in Assembly Rules Committee “until further notice” and give senators time to fill in holes that the bill does not currently address.

“Even senators who voted for Senate Bill 562 noted there are potentially fatal flaws in the bill, including the fact it does not address many serious issues, such as financing, delivery of care, cost controls, or the realities of needed action by the Trump administration and voters to make SB 562 a genuine piece of legislation,” Rendon said.

Democratic Sens. Ricardo Lara and Toni Atkins, who introduced the proposal, acknowledged the bill was dead for the year. Lara and Atkins had described the bill as a work in progress when it passed the Senate earlier this month without a funding plan. A legislative analysis pegged the cost at $400 billion.

The abrupt announcement shields members of the Assembly from having to take a difficult vote that could be used against them by critics or supporters of the policy.

RoseAnn DeMoro, the outspoken leader of the nurses union, has pressed for the legislation to become a litmus test of sorts in next year’s elections, even threatening incumbent lawmakers with primary challenges if they refused to give their support.

The activists, led by the nurses union, have held large rallies outside the state Capitol where speakers took aim at recalcitrant Democrats, including Gov. Jerry Brown who earlier this year questioned how the state could afford to pay for the legislation.

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