As for the bill's legislative substance, Senator Lara states in a release that he and Sen. Atkins "will be talking about the details in the weeks ahead with the people of California."

In a release, Sen. Lara's office says his bill (the "Healthy California Act") will include the following:

[Scroll down for further.]

[Lara press release text] Healthy California Highlights:

Every California resident has one plan and more choice. No more plan-switching or guesswork when insurance rates or plans change.
You pick your doctor, not health insurers
Clinicians make decisions about care, not computers
By pooling health care funds in a publicly-run fund we get the bargaining power of the seventh largest economy.
We cut out insurance company waste and duplication
No more out of control co-pays and high deductibles
Public oversight on costs and care, not decisions made in secret
Managing prescription drug costs

Timeline:

Californians for a Healthy California Act (SB 562) was introduced on February 17, 2017. Senator Lara and Sen. Atkins will be talking about the details in the weeks ahead with the people of California. The bill is sponsored by the California Nurses Association.

"We need to have this conversation now while hundreds of thousands of people are speaking out in support of health care," said Senator Lara. "With Republicans on the brink of rolling back health care it’s time for California to lead. I look forward to bringing a bill that Californians can support and the governor will sign."

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The CA legislature has previously passed "single payer" legislation, but it was vetoed by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Lara-Atkins bill charts a different course for California than than the Trump administration favors nationally in seeking to repeal "ObabaCare" and replace it with something else (that arguably like the Lara-Atkins bill, it hasn't stated publicly yet.)

There is no one-form for a "single payer" system (currently used in various forms in Canada, the UK, Australia and a number of European countries.) In general, a single payer system requires employees, employers, consumers and/or other taxpayers to pay the government, and a government body decides what medical services to cover (or not) and on what terms. Patients can choose their own doctors, but a government body decides what services, procedures and medicines it will pay for (or not) and on what terms (in some respects similar to Medicare.) By contrast, "ObamaCare" requires taxpayers to purchase federally-approved insurance policies but lets private insurance companies offer them.

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Supporters of a "single payer" system say it reduces costs by eliminating private insurance bureaucracy; opponents say it gives a new layer of government bureaucrats the power to make medically significant decisions that can impose inflexible, lengthy waits for urgently needed procedures. Supporters note that some medications are much less expensive in Canada; opponents say some Canadian residents come to the U.S. for medical treatment because of delays under their government-run system.

Some critics of "ObamaCare" (the "Affordable Care Act") have charged that its real aim was to pave the way for a "single payer" government-run system. Enactment of the ObamaCare mandates effectively cost Democrats their majorities in the House, then the Senate, and some say ultimately the White House. Candidate Donald Trump campaigned in part on repealing "ObamaCare," blasting President Obama (and by extension candidate Clinton) for claiming "if you like your health insurance you can keep your health insurance" when federal rules disallowed some policies, requiring some consumers to buy different "federally approved" policies carrying higher premiums and deductibles with lesser coverage (while some Presidential-favored constituencies received "waivers" from ObamaCare's mandates.)

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Candidate Hillary Clinton tried to straddle the "Feel the Bern" Sanders "single payer" position and the ObamaCare status quo, saying she supported a "public option" [government-run option] available under "Obamacare" (and would also let people over 55 buy into Medicare.)

Republicans now controlling Congress and the White House have vowed to repeal "ObamaCare" but thus far haven't explained exactly how or when. Some parts of ObamaCare remain popular, including its ban on letting insurance companies cite "pre-existing conditions" as their basis for denying coverage.

Developing.

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