Insurers can breathe a sigh of relief now that it seems highly unlikely that California will implement a single-payer healthcare system, at least not this legislative session, after the state senate failed to get the necessary votes to move it forward. However, they might soon be required to cover additional mental health illnesses.

The proposed single-payer system has become a divisive political issue with no Republicans voting for the measure (S.B. 810). Four Democrats abstained, while another voted against the bill, reported the Sacramento Bee.

Republicans banded together in opposition of a single-payer system. "We simply don't need to go down a path of rationing our health care in California," Sen. Ted Gaines said, according to KPBS. And Sen. Tony Strickland said the bill would create "another costly and inefficient bureaucracy."

Although the Senate could reconsider the bill, they must do so by Tuesday. Senate leader Darrell Steinberg predicted the bill would "probably not" make it out of the legislature by that deadline, reported the Los Angeles Times. But the legislation's supporters remain hopeful for passage. "We are in active discussion with the Senators who did not vote, with the goal of encouraging them to support a bill that will guarantee healthcare for all people in California while solving the state's budget crisis," Bill Skeen, executive director of Physicians for a National Health Program California, told FierceHealthPayer.

Meanwhile, the California Assembly passed two bills that would broaden mental health coverage. A.B. 154 would require insurers to cover the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses, and A.B. 171 requires insurers to cover developmental disorders such as autism, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

California currently only requires insurers to cover serious mental illnesses, including schizophrenia, autism and anorexia. The proposed bills seek to expand coverage to illnesses such as depression and anxiety.

To learn more:
- read the San Francisco Chronicle article
- see the Los Angeles Times article
- check out the KPBS article
- read the Sacramento Bee article

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