California Democrats propose measure that would double our taxes to pay for “free” healthcare, but even they aren’t serious about it.

The American Spectator   "Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced that he’s fulfilling his promise to provide universal healthcare to all Californians (and non-Californians, regardless of immigration status) with a $2.7-billion budget proposal to expand state-provided coverage to low-income adults. Progressives, however, believe the boast is a sellout of his campaign promises.

“ 'I campaigned on universal healthcare; we’re delivering on that,” he said during a speech in the Central Valley. Currently, MediCal provides coverage only to people under 26 and older than 50, so Newsom is arguing that expanding that program not only lives up to a top campaign theme, but — and let’s all say this in unison — is yet another bold step that should be a model for the rest of the nation.

"There’s plenty to criticize in the plan. Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Antelope Valley, told ABC10 News that the official price tag won’t even be close to the final tab, which is a self-obvious critique. Furthermore, “it’s not even close to realistically covering what they’re indicating it’s going to cover.” No doubt about that, either, although most of the criticism is coming from the Left.

"As CalMatters’ Dan Walters noted, union officials see the proposal as an inadequate flip-flop given that Newsom said he supports “single payer.” Newsom’s universal plan “includes a wide variety of public and private health insurance plans … while the latter would provide unlimited benefits free of out-of-pocket costs, much like Great Britain’s National Health Service,” Walters added.

"We should all be thankful that Newsom merely is ramping up government spending and expanding a largely incompetent government agency — given the latest alternatives from the Legislature. Democratic legislators recently introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 11, which would “impose an excise tax, payroll taxes and a State Personal Income CalCare Tax … to fund comprehensive universal single-payer healthcare coverage.' ”. . .