California Lawmaker Panel Rejects Government-Run Health Care

State lawmakers studying improvements to California’s healthcare system are rejecting a plan popular with Democratic activists to give everyone in the state government-funded health care.

A panel created by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon this week recommended a variety of ways to lower health care costs and reduce the ranks of the uninsured. Quickly adopting “single-payer” health care wasn’t among them.

The issue has become flashpoint in this year’s race for governor.

The report says the Legislature could provide money and staff to chart a long-term path to government-run health care, which it says would likely require approval from California voters and Congress.

The report angered the California Association of Nurses, which has hammered Rendon and other Assembly Democrats for failing to pass a single-payer bill the union advocates.