Lanhee Chen, a candidate for California State Controller, issued the following statement after legislation to create a single-payer, government-run health system in California failed to garner sufficient support to advance:
“We shouldn’t be surprised that even the state legislature couldn’t come up with the votes to pass a government-run health care program that would force Californians off their current coverage. After all, who wants to put some of the same bureaucrats who mismanaged our state unemployment insurance system in charge of our health care? But let this be a lesson: Californians won’t be fooled. You cannot claim to be providing people with something better while you take away their choices, raise their taxes, and fail to properly account for the billions of dollars that are already being spent on health care in our state. We can and should provide access to quality health insurance to every Californian, but we must first begin with accountability for the money that is being spent and seek improvements that build on what we already have.
