iStock/Thinkstock(LOS ANGELES) —  Hundreds of California nurses and other community activists are rallying Wednesday in favor of a bill that could make the state the first to successfully launch a single-payer healthcare system.

The groups see this as a chance for large state of California to show how a single-payer system can work and the necessity of providing universal health care coverage, according to Bonnie Castillo, the RN Response Network director at National Nurses United.

“We believe it’s a right and not a privilege,” Castillo told ABC News. “We know at the federal level there is debate and quandary about what to do and we know that this provides an opportunity in California to set a standard and a model for the nation.”

Supporters of the plan say the timing is right for this kind of legislation in the state, which has enormous influence with a population of nearly 40 million people and the 6th largest economy in the world. Health care coverage has been under added scrutiny as Republican leadership in Washington, D.C., has pledged to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), leaving many questions about public options for health insurance.

This proposed legislation would go further than the ACA by creating universal healthcare for California residents, meaning everyone in the state would be eligible for coverage. The bill, the “Californians for a Healthy California Act,” was introduced by State Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and State Senator Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) last week.

“Healthy California gives everyone insurance, because everyone has a right to health care,” Lara said in a statement at the time last week. “Trump and the Republicans don’t get to pick the health care winners and losers, and we’ll never get to 100% health care in California unless we lead.”

If this legislation is turned into law, California could become the first state to start a single-payer health system in the U.S. Vermont passed legislation to start a single payer system in 2009, but the governor eventually scuttled the idea over financing concerns, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Castillo said the group is optimistic about the law’s chance since many people have voiced concerns about a possible decrease in health coverage if the ACA is repealed.

“It’s different political time, we’re just coming off this presidential election where healthcare was majorly debated and a primary issue,” Castillo said. She also cited recent studies including a Pew report released in January that found 60 percent of Americans say the government should be responsible for ensuring health care coverage for all Americans.

This bill does not give details on how state officials would implement a single-payer system, which would require the state to take on the huge task of negotiating bulk prices for healthcare services and medications on behalf of the state’s nearly 40 million people. Despite a lack of details, she said the group plans on being at the drafting table to ensure the system can function.

“It’s a real opportunity to address this problem and in a way that provides real relief,” Castillo said.

But the functional single-payer system would also have to overcome unique hurdles in a state where millions of dollars in federal funds are spent on health programs like Medicaid and veterans affairs.

Without details on how the plan will work with federal programs, it is difficult to say how functional it would be, according to Laurence Baker, a professor of health research and policy and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

“This would have to interact with other national programs,” Baker explained. “The system would have to be functional within the national health system … it would be another layer of difficulty.”

Other countries, like Canada, may have single payer systems that differ slightly depending on province, he said, but the U.S. is more complicated. Nothing like this plan — a state-run single payer system that must also comply with federal government rules — currently exists.

“It would have to be a uniquely American California system,” Baker said.

It’s feasible for California to pull it off, he said, because of its size and bargaining power, but that in the past there has never been enough political will to figure out the complex and daunting task of doing so.

“It has been up and down and it’s never been a majority of the population,” in support of the single payer system Baker said. “In a political sense … what is the moment for folks who want to support it?”

California’s state legislature has considered several healthcare bills since the early 2000s. They passed a similar bill in 2006, but it was vetoed by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who said socialized medicine was not the answer to the state’s healthcare problems. He subsequently proposed his own universal healthcare bill, but it was never moved forward.

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