California Democrats on Monday failed to acquire the amount of support needed to forge ahead with a bill that would transform the state into a universal health care provider.
To sign the legislation into law, it had to be voted on by its deadline of midnight on Monday. However, after capitulating to great pressure from businesses and the insurance industry, the bill was never brought to a point of order.
“It became clear that we did not have the votes necessary for passage,” said the author and state Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-Calif. Realizing that AB1400 was dead on arrival, Kalra considered the “best course of action,” was to sideline the measures.
The shorthanded attempt is unique considering that California is governed by a Democrat-controlled state legislature, but colleagues of Kalra were unwilling to promote the contents of the bill or lack thereof.
In large part, the policy defined the rules of operations for the socialized medical system, but nowhere to be found were the costs of production or how the California government would fund the effort. Data from a 2017 study showed that the bill would cost the Golden State $331 billion, which is now equivalent to $356 billion when adjusted for present day inflation.
Kevin Kiley, a California state legislator, celebrated the bill’s failure to pass. “For one day sanity prevails,” he wrote on Monday.
Although an explanation was not given for how the deep blue state could afford the medical overhaul, it doesn’t take an economics degree from Harvard University to know that California taxpayers would be left to foot the financial bill.
That is a lot to ask of Californians who are already burdened with crime, homelessness, and steep fuel prices. A report conducted in December showed that the cost of gasoline has risen by 55 percent across the nation since President Trump left the White House. Certain areas of California have even reached an unthinkable $8.00 per gallon.
One of President Trump’s most popular vows is that “America will never be a socialist country.” By failing to bring the bill before a vote, California Democrats inadvertently helped to upkeep that promise.