Heating up

In California, single-payer health care will continue to be a major issue. I anticipate the election of a very pro-single-payer governor and insurance commissioner in November, and they will likely push for a statewide single-payer system. While I don't think this is a viable debate at the policy level (tax increases and federal waivers will be stopping points), it will be a huge debate at the political level for the next few years.

I think single-payer proponents will get more traction at the national level, because we already have a public/private program, Medicare, that is functioning relatively well and can be expanded incrementally to include more people.