California Democrats Propose Government Takeover of Healthcare, Banning Private Insurance

“California Democrats want to take over your healthcare, banning private insurance while imposing a $500 billion tax across the state,” Assemblyman Carl Demaio (R-San Diego) warns.

He’s right.

CA Dems propose banning private health insurance while imposing a $500 billion tax across the state. Here's what's going on and how we're fighting back – WATCH! pic.twitter.com/kq4jOUMuoY

— Carl DeMaio (@carldemaio) February 24, 2026

And, coincidentally, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that he and Attorney General Rob Bonta are co-leading a multi-state lawsuit against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the CDC, and the CDC’s Director “for their unprecedented attack on the country’s evidence-based childhood vaccine schedule.”

Newsom’s press statement says that “the lawsuit includes 15 states suing the federal government for the HHS and CDC’s decision in January to strip seven childhood vaccines of universally recommended status. This decision was made circumventing federal laws and without solid scientific supporting evidence, and will certainly result in more kids contracting preventable diseases.”

In December, Gov. Newsom announced he had hired the fired CDC officials who created the mandates which forced Americans to take the Covid vaccine, wear face masks indoors and outdoors, socially distance six feet from any other human in a public place – to run a new public health agency, despite their previous firings under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Yet, in 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom said criticism of California’s tough Covid-19 restrictions was valid and he would have taken an entirely different approach, given what he knows now about the pandemic, in a Politico article.

“I think we would’ve done everything differently,” Newsom said in an interview for NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Now Gov. Newsom flips and doubles down on the worst of the worst public health policies.

Now Newsom is suing the federal government again so he can justify taking over private healthcare in a “single-payer” form of socialist, government run healthcare.

As DeMaio says, “single-payer is a euphemistic term for government run healthcare.”

California is already the most costly provider of healthcare in the nation, DeMaio says. An emergency visit to the ER “is $3,600 on average, with all of the regulations and mandates, while an ER visit in Maryland is only $680.”

He says an ambulance ride in California is $2,400 while in North Carolina it is $650.

“Democrats who created the cost crisis in California’s healthcare are now saying ‘healthcare is not affordable enough… we need more government?”

Assembly Bill 1900 is called “CALCARE,” and authored by Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San José), a “Democrat Socialist,” says DeMaio. The Globe can concur.

“They haven’t screwed up the schools enough, or road maintenance, or the DMV… or any sort of welfare programs with any sort of fraud… so, ‘why don’t we take over healthcare as well?'” DeMaio added.

Assemblyman Kalra promises free healthcare for all.

Here is how Assemblyman Kalra describes AB 1900:

Assembly Bill 1900, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, proposes a transformative shift in California’s health care landscape by introducing a comprehensive single-payer system. Today, the U.S. health care system is fragmented, complex, and leaves many without adequate coverage, as well as burdening individuals with high costs. Despite health care spending in the U.S. far exceeding other high-income, industrialized countries with single-payer systems, we consistently report worse health outcomes and disparities among vulnerable populations.

Ahhhh, A “transformative shift in California’s healthcare landscape…” sounds soothing and safe… like the “warmth of collectivism.”

But as Assemblyman DeMaio reminds us, “it’s not free, in the least. It is going to cost a half of a trillion dollars,” DeMaio says.

DeMaio harkens back to the original bill Kalra proposed a few years ago, first in 2017, then again in 2022. Assembly Bill 1400, the “Guaranteed Health Care for All” state-run healthcare bill, would have upended California’s the state’s revenue and taxation,” then-Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) warned. Cunningham strongly objected to passing AB 1400 out of Rules for several reasons, but primarily because the “Guaranteed Health Care for All” bill still has no explanation for how it will be funded, the Globe reported in 2022.

“We’ve got a state that can’t issue drivers licenses effectively through the DMV, and we’ve got a state that can’t issue unemployment checks properly through the EDD, but we’re going to make all of that a state agency and it’s going to control every aspect of your health care,” Cunningham said.

Cunningham said for the 5+ years he has been on the Assembly Rules Committee, “all bills without specified funding are held in the Rules Committee and not referred on to policy committees, unless and until how they will pay for themselves” is written into the bill and analyzed by the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

“This bill, AB 1400, does not tell you how it will pay for what would be the largest state bureaucracy in state history… and what will replace every piece of federal, state and private healthcare systems with something run by 9 people.”

“Nowhere in the bill does it tell you what tax increases or set of tax increases are going to fund this very expensive program.” Cunningham called for the bill to be analyzed by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

DeMaio said the current government-run healthcare proposal would require:

• a 2.3% excise tax on businesses after their first $2 million in income (not profit);
• a 1.25% payroll tax on employers with 50+ workers;
• an additional 1% payroll tax on employees (you) earning more than $49,900;
• a progressive income tax on a household starting at 0.5% for Californians earning more than $149,500, up to 2.5% for people making $2.5 million annually (adjusted for inflation).

The “warmth of collectivism” is not sounding so warm anymore, is it?

DeMaio says even when you add all of those additional taxes up, it’s still not going to be enough to pay for California government-run healthcare.

How many businesses will stay around for this?

This disastrous proposal would be devastating not just to California employers, business owners, and households earning more than $149,500, but it will be the equivalent of DMV healthcare.

Gov. Newsom is still pushing the Covid vaccine. Even after Newsom’s three years of Covid lockdowns, mandatory masking, social distancing and mandatory Covid vaccines, Newsom, three Western States Governors, and the California Department of Public Health claims “Following Trump’s politicization of CDC, West Coast states issue unified vaccine recommendations — California breaks from future federal guidance with new law.”

These Democrat tyrants have formed a weird alliance to push back against the very necessary reforms made by real doctors and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to dismantle the Big Pharma control of the CDC, HHS and FDA.

Is this who you want in charge of your healthcare?

Assemblyman DeMaio reminds us that Californians will not be allowed to buy private health insurance. It will be against the law.

“Remember when Democrats used to say ‘hands off my body… my healthcare, my choice?'” he asked. “Well, nope, they want to get in your wallet and make all of the decisions as it relates to your health.”

DeMaio reminds us, as I just did, if you like all of the mandates and healthcare decisions Democrats made during Covid, you’ll love this.

And if you are still not sure, “Last month, Governor Newsom announced that California became the first state to join the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network (GOARN), strengthening public health preparedness and rapid response coordination as the Trump administration pulled the U.S. from WHO.”

The warmth of collectivism.

Gavin Newsom won’t be using state-run healthcare. Gavin Newsom is presenting an obscene hand gesture at the Trump Administration. Again.