Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes a single-payer healthcare system.

Highlights:

• Establishes the California Healthcare System for all California residents (Sec. 1).

• Establishes procedures for the California Healthcare System, including, but not limited to, the following (Sec 1):
• Patient advocacy;
• Planning for the health needs of the population;
• Maintaining patient satisfaction; and
• Setting premiums.

• Prohibits the sale of alternative insurance policies for services provided by the California Healthcare System (Sec. 1).

• Requires the establishment of a Healthcare Fund to contain certain accounts which include, but are not limited to, the following (Sec. 1):
• A system account to provide for all annual state expenditures for health care;
• A reserve account; and
• An account containing the premiums collected each year that are roughly sufficient to cover that year’s expected costs.

• Authorizes the California Healthcare Agency to impose cost control measures in cases of potential insolvency.  These cost control measures include, but are not limited to (Sec. 1):
• Postponement of new benefit introductions;
• Temporary decreases in benefits; and
• The imposition of copayments or deductibles.

• Establishes the California Healthcare Agency as the sole state agency with the power to administer the California Healthcare System (Sec. 1).

• Specifies that the bill becomes effective on the date that the Secretary of California Health and Human Services notifies the Legislature that he or she have received the funding necessary for the California Healthcare System and the federal waiver required under the national healthcare law (Sec. 1).

Full Bill Text