Senator Wiener’s Bill to Advance Universal Healthcare Passes Assembly Health Committee

SACRAMENTO – The Assembly Health Committee passed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 770, which takes concrete steps towards universal health coverage in California. SB 770 directs the California Health and Human Services Agency (HHS) to pursue discussions on a concrete timeline with the federal government to establish a unified healthcare financing system, to provide universal health coverage in California. The bill passed 10-4 and heads next to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

SB 770 furthers the recommendations of the Healthy California For All Commission, which was convened in 2019 to map pathways for the state to move toward “a health care delivery system for California that provides coverage and access through a unified financing system, including, but not limited to a single payer financing system.”

“California must continue our progress toward universal health coverage,” said Senator Wiener. “SB 770 advances that goal by requiring the state to rapidly gather information about our options for securing federal healthcare funding streams. This information will be critical to construct a policy framework for any universal healthcare system, including single-payer. I thank my colleagues for their support and look forward to working with both our allies and opposition to eliminate the waste and inequity of our current healthcare system.”

The Healthy California For All Commission was established by Senate Bill (SB) 104 (Chapter 67, Statutes of 2019), and convened by Governor Newsom in December 2019. It issued its final report in April of 2022. The report found that “unified financing” would avert 4,000 deaths per year and save California $158 billion in public healthcare spending by 2031 and that, in total, the state’s residents would incur an additional $500 billion in inflationary medical costs over the next decade unless unified public healthcare financing is implemented. 

The report summarizes the characteristics of the new “unified financing” system as:

• All California residents will be entitled to receive a standard package of health care services;
• This package could include Long Term Care Support and Services, which would relieve huge and growing burdens that are falling on millions of families;
• Entitlement will not vary by age, employment status, disability status, income, immigration status, or other characteristics; and
• Distinctions among Medicare, Medi-Cal, employer-sponsored insurance, and individual market coverage will be eliminated within the system of unified financing.

SB 770 establishes tangible steps on a concrete timeline toward creating this unified healthcare financing system by:

• Directing the Secretary of the California Health and Human Services (HHS) Agency to pursue waiver discussions with the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to facilitate the creation of a unified healthcare financing system; 
• Requiring the Secretary to establish a Waiver Development Workgroup of diverse healthcare system stakeholders appointed by the Governor, Speaker of the Assembly, and President Pro Tempore of the Senate;
• Requiring the Secretary to provide quarterly reports to the chairs of the Assembly and Senate Health Committees on the status and outcomes of waiver discussions with the federal government and the progress of the workgroup; 
• Requiring the Secretary to submit a complete set of recommendations regarding the elements to be included in a formal waiver application, as specified, by no later than June 1, 2024.

SB 770 is sponsored by the Healthy California Now Coalition, a broad coalition of labor unions, health advocates, and civil rights advocates. Read more about SB 770 here.