It could be too expensive and complicated to replace employer-sponsored health care with a public, single-payer system in Washington State, a new report concludes.

The Washington Institute for Public Policy estimates it would require $28 billion in new state taxes and an additional $48 billion in transitional costs to include uninsured patients in a public health care system. John Bauer, the institute’s senior research associate, reviewed the report’s findings during a meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Health Care Oversight earlier this month.

The online news site The Lens covered the highpoints of the meeting here.

The Lens report also speculates that private insurers would likely mount a legal challenge to a single-payer system.