A California lawmaker is taking another shot at bringing single-payer health care to the Golden State.
Assemblymember Ash Kalra, a San Jose Democrat, introduced Assembly Bill 1900 on Thursday. If passed, it would lead the state to transition to CalCare — a single-payer health care coverage system.
Kalra in a statement pointed to what he called devastating cuts from the federal government as a reason for refusing to accept an inequitable system and fighting for a better future for California residents.
“With CalCare, health care will be recognized as a human right — offering a stark contrast to the current status quo, where we invest the most in care yet experience some of the poorest health outcomes,” Kalra said. “Access to health care should never be determined by your employment, location, gender or sexual orientation, age, or pre-existing conditions.”
A handful of Kalra’s colleagues are joint authors. The California Nurses Association is a sponsor of the bill.
One of those colleagues is Assemblymember Alex Lee, a San Jose Democrat, who said in a statement to Courthouse News that health care must be guaranteed as a human right.
“The rapid rise in health insurance costs and massive federal cuts demand that we take bold and urgent action,” he said, adding: “We have to put people before profits, and CalCare is the path towards delivering health care for all.”
The association in a statement said California residents are ready for massive changes in their health care system. It pointed to a recent poll showing that almost two-thirds of Californians support major reforms to the system. Among Democrats, 86% support a single-payer health care system proposal in the state.
“Elected representatives in Sacramento have a clear public mandate to pass CalCare,” said Sandy Reding, president of the California Nurses Association, in a statement. “From Prop 50’s passage to [New York City Mayor] Zohran Mamdani’s election to this new poll on California’s health care system, Democratic voters across the country have made it clear they strongly support a bold response to the right-wing billionaire agenda and a transformative vision for the country.”
The text of the bill wasn’t immediately available.
This isn’t Kalra’s first time trying to institute a single-payer system in the state.
In January 2022 he introduced a bill called Guaranteed Health Care for All. It also sought to create CalCare, which would have been a single-payer health care coverage and cost control system for the state.
That bill passed through the Assembly’s Health and Appropriations committees and reached the floor of the Assembly in February 2022. It died without a vote.
Kalra followed that bill in February 2023 with similar legislation seeking to make a “comprehensive universal single-payer health care program that benefits every resident of the state.”
It never reached a committee hearing and died Feb. 1, 2024, when it missed a crucial deadline.
Then, about a week after the prior bill died, Kalra introduced the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act. It reached his chamber’s Appropriations Committee, where it died.
Kalra in 2024 also pointed to the need for change, saying his bill would revolutionize health care. Republicans, then and now, denounced the move.
At the time, state Senator Brian Dahle — a Bieber Republican and Governor Gavin Newsom’s opponent in the 2022 gubernatorial race — called Kalra’s bill disastrous. He claimed patients would die as they waited for care.
On Thursday, Assemblymember Kate Sanchez — a Rancho Santa Margarita Republican — reposted on X what was dubbed a “bad bill alert.”
“Asm. Dems just introduced AB 1900 to force Californians onto state run healthcare,” Sanchez posted. “Legislative analysts estimate the cost to be over $500 billion, nearly double CA’s current budget. Maybe this is why Dems are looking at passing new taxes this year.”
While Republicans often accuse Democrats of trying to raise taxes, Sanchez likely is at least partially referring to Assembly Bill 1421. California Republicans, as well as California U.S. Representative Kevin Kiley, have claimed recently that the bill, which would require a study about a mileage-based fee system, is the first step toward higher taxes.