The point of the bill was to get the ball rolling. Bills are often not feature complete, and obviously, if they are not specific about how it will be payed for, it's gonna have to be hashed out later. A bill that states California is moving to single payer is great because it's going to force the state to figure it out. Which it can. Most countries have single payer, and it is cheaper than what we have, not more expensive.
Discussion about regulating drug prices and closing tax loop holes would start to form, and the state would be better off for it. Make no mistake, if the bill was feature complete, Democrats would just find another way to close it down. All of a sudden, you get the Diane Feinstein's of the world complaining about the jobs in health insurance being lost, or they bring up how raising taxes is not the answer (even though it could just be about closing loop holes) etc etc...Passing the bill without specifics may have been the only way to actually pass it. As soon as you do get into details, donors and the lot all start to complain, and it may never pass. However, the discussion on how to pay for it changes rapidly when the state has to figure out how the hell it's gonna pay for everyone's health care in a year or whatever the guidelines are. You are never going to get discussion about regulating drug prices or closing tax loop holes to pay for health care before they are forced to figure it out.
The key is to look at who they are taking money from, and you will get what their answer is. No guy is going to betray the people who makes his election possible. It's just not going to happen.
I get people are uneasy about it, but just understand they are not stopping it because they are afraid it can't be figure out. They're stopping it because some guy who depends on the insurance industry is giving them money.
