Single-Payer Healthcare Divides Gubernatorial Candidates at Town Hall
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For more than an hour, Saturday’s town hall meeting of gubernatorial candidates at the University of Southern California proceeded at a tame, predictable pace.
Democrats Gavin Newsom, Antonio Villaraigosa, John Chiang, and Delaine Eastin took turns criticizing President Trump’s comments and policies, while Republicans John Cox and Travis Allen denounced the record of current Governor Jerry Brown.
Then the topic of single-payer health care came up.
The debate over whether to pioneer a system of government-run health care for all California residents once again divided the Democrats on stage.
“The current system is insolvent,” said Newsom, the state’s Lieutenant Governor. “It is long overdue in this state.”
It also provided Villaraigosa and Chiang an opportunity to take shots at Newsom, who has taken on front-runner status in the race.
The two pushed Newsom and former State Superintendent Eastin to provide more details on how to pay for a single-payer plan.
Estimates show that $50-$100 billion in new spending would be needed to run the system in California, possibly through an increased payroll tax.
“You gotta have a plan,” said Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles. “Anybody that is telling you we should do it without a plan is selling you snake oil.”
Appearing with the four Democrats on stage for the first time, Republicans Cox and Allen dismissed the idea of handing over control of health care to the government.
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