Political Notes: Bay Area Assembly candidates back single-payer health care
A legislative push to establish a universal health care system in California may have stalled this year, but the calls for the state to move toward a single-payer form of medical care are expected to only grow louder in the years to come.
It is an issue being discussed on the campaign trail in various Bay Area races for legislative seats.Among the Democratic candidates who returned the Bay Area Reporter's questionnaire that asked where they stood on the issue, there is near universal support for single-payer health care.
But slight differences can be seen in how the candidates would legislatively move it forward.California lawmakers have for years debated the issue but have failed to coalesce around what form it should take and how to pay for it.
In January, Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) pulled his Assembly Bill 1400 from being voted on due to it being clear he didn't have the support needed to advance it out of the Assembly.The bill, co-authored by bisexual Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose), would have created a single-payer health care system known as CalCare.
