Late today, the California Senate Committee on Health passed a single-payer, government-run health care proposal by State Sen. Ricardo Lara that the National Federation of Independent Business said, “would spike costs and devastate small business.” Lara represents Long Beach and Signal Hill, among other cities.

 

The bill now goes to the Senate Committee on Appropriations, which is chaired by Lara.

 

NFIB California State Executive Director Tom Scott issued the following statement on behalf of the 22,000 dues-paying small business members in California:

 

“For the last several years, small business owners have consistently ranked the rising cost of health care as their #1 issue. According to a recent survey of our NFIB membership here in California, 49% of our membership ranked this as a ‘critical’ issue impacting their small business. SB 562 would add unbearable costs on struggling small business owners, at a time when the state is already burdening them with higher minimum wage costs and drastic gas tax increases. According to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, universal single-payer health care would cost roughly $250 billion annually –that’s more than double our annual state budget. This bill will kill jobs, hurt working families, and make health care more expensive for all.”