Policy experts are claiming that California's failure to pass its single-payer healthcare system is a massive blow against similar initiatives around the country, according to a Feb. 28 Kaiser Health News report.
Outside California, 20 states are either working through single payer healthcare initiatives or taking steps to implement them.
However, Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told Kaiser Health News that California's single payer loss "certainly sends a signal" to other states because of its status as a "bellwether for progressive policy."
Vermont State Sen. Peter Shumlin, the former governor who passed Vermont's single payer plan in 2011, said the state's initiative faltered because taxes and healthcare costs piled up. He told Kaiser Health News that if lawmakers can confront stark healthcare opposition to such initiatives and manage spending as advocates continue to make the system work, California could be an important model to follow for other states.
"California is the best state to lead this because it has the fifth-biggest economy in the world," he told Kaiser Health News. "It's all about scale. And if California gets it right, other states and the federal government will follow. But this is hard stuff, so get ready to get bloodied."
However, the state's failure took the wind out of sails for some. Andre Stackhouse, campaign director for single-payer advocacy group Whole Washington, told Kaiser Health News that he was sure the state of Washington would have used that success to inspire their own program.