SACRAMENTO – On Thursday the State Senate voted 22-14 to pass Senate Bill 810, the California Universal Health Care Act.

The measure, authored by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), would enact a system of comprehensive, universal health care for every Californian.

North Coast Senator Patricia Wiggins (D – Santa Rosa) is one of the principal co-authors of SB 810, which next heads to the Assembly for consideration.

If approved by both houses of the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, SB 810 would establish a “single-payer” health care system to provide coverage to all 37 million Californians.

Essentially, this bill combines, under one administration, existing state-administered health care programs with the privately-funded insurance industry, and the state's uninsured.

A newly-created California Healthcare System would, on a single-payer basis, negotiate with providers or set fees for health care services and will pay claims for those services.

According to an analysis by Senate staff, “This bill establishes the Healthcare Fund, which will consist of two accounts – one to pay annual state expenditures for health care and another to maintain a system reserve. This bill provides that the premiums collected each year will be roughly sufficient to cover that year's projected costs.”

In addition, “This bill assumes that all current local, state, and federal trust fund monies used to provide health care coverage to enrollees in state health care programs will be transferred to the system.”

SB 810 has a lengthy list of supporters, including the California Nurses Association, the California Teachers Association, the California Alliance for Retired Americans, the Congress of California Seniors, and groups representing physicians and medical students.

Supporters state that as health insurance costs rise steadily, employers are reducing or dropping coverage for employees. They also say that the increase in high-deductible health plans, which require deductibles and co-payments which are often unaffordable, have failed to stem the rise in health care costs, and that half of all bankruptcies in the U.S. are related to medical costs.

The bill’s backers cite this as evidence that Californians can no longer rely on the current system of private insurance, as no one is guaranteed to receive care when they become ill, and many who are insured often have inadequate coverage. By contrast, SB 810 would provide every Californian with health care coverage that would provide comprehensive benefits and a high quality of care.

Opponents include America's Health Insurance Plans, Anthem Blue Cross, the Association of California Life and Health Insurance Companies, and the California Association of Health Plans.