The debate over legislation promoting the creation of a single-payer health care system in California has exposed an uncommon disagreement between Humboldt County’s two Democratic state representatives.
In a statement released Tuesday, 2nd District Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg) said he supported Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon’s Friday decision to hold Senate Bill 562 over questions about how the system would be paid for, who would provide the care and how costs would be controlled.
“We currently depend on hundreds of billions of dollars in local, state and federal funds to support the health care system we have today,” Wood said. “And we have painstakingly watched the daily roller coaster ride of the repeal and replace proposals coming out of the Republican-controlled Congress, and have no idea what amount of federal funding will eventually be made available to us.”
Wood’s 2nd District colleague, state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), co-authored SB 562 and was one of 24 senators who voted in favor of the bill on June 1. McGuire was unavailable for comment earlier Tuesday afternoon and did not return requests for comment by the late afternoon.
“Our national health care system is under attack, and the time has come for California to advance the critical conversation about implementation of single-payer health care,” McGuire said in May of the legislation.
SB 562, known as the Healthy California Act, would guarantee health care for all California residents and eliminate out-of-pocket costs for consumers, like copays and deductibles. If passed, the bill would have an estimated yearly cost of $400 billion. While much of it could come from redirecting existing state and federal spending on health care, the program would still require as much as $100 billion in new taxes.
Both Wood and Rendon raised concerns about the bill not laying out how the state would pay for government-run health care system.
Rendon (D-Los Angeles) called on the Senate to draft a new version of the bill and include a detailed financial plan or to take it to the voters as part of ballot initiative.
“This action does not mean SB 562 is dead,” Rendon said to the Associated Press on Friday. “In fact, it leaves open the exact deep discussion and debate the senators who voted for SB 562 repeatedly said is needed.”
As a licensed dentist, Wood said ensuring residents receive health care is an issue that is “near and dear” to him, but said the bill’s issues are significant enough that it can wait until next year to work out.
Wood’s stance has upset advocates such as McKinleyville resident and California Democratic State Central Committee executive board member Robert Shearer, who accused Rendon and Wood of wanting to pull the bill due to them accepting donations from corporate executives. Wood’s office declined to respond to this accusation.
“We need our Democratic leaders, especially those representing our most progressive districts, and especially with those with notable influence over this bill’s advancement, like the chair of the Health Committee from the North Coast’s second assembly district, to use their political capital and self-proclaimed wisdom on the matter to help see this through,” Shearer wrote in an email to the Times-Standard on Tuesday.
Wood said in a statement to the Times-Standard on Tuesday that his decision to support Rendon’s decision has resulted in uncivil responses.
“Although I very much want to hear from my constituents on issues that are important to them, and for that matter, all Californians who will be affected by health care policy, but the aggressive actions, threats and vitriol coming from a small group of the activist organizers supporting SB 562 are not serving them well,” Wood said. “I am a policy guy and I know very well what we need to address before this bill can become a reality, so I hope that civility will prevail as we move forward.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.
