California continues to pass laws--like the recent net neutrality bill--that challenge the rest of the nation to keep up. With a huge chunk of the country's population, the state is in a position to lead.
So it could be highly influential in healthcare legislation. Should the state stick with the battered Affordable Care Act, or could it set up a single-payer system of its own?
These are questions Richard Scheffler mulls; he is a healthcare economist at the University of California-Berkeley. We invited him to think out loud about California's health insurance options and their potential viability.