CALCAID HERE WE COME: Gavin Newsom adds a new plank to his 2018 campaign for California governor — a statewide universal healthcare system.

With the proposal, which is modeled on a city program he supported while mayor of San Francisco, Newsom is trying to stake a claim to an issue that may become pivotal in the contested race, especially among his biggest Democratic rivals.

Newsom told the Bee he’s consulting with healthcare leaders to craft a statewide system.

Healthy San Francisco, the first-in-the-nation, city-run universal healthcare effort he conceived, is funded in part by an employer mandate and covers uninsured adults living in San Francisco. Launched in 2007, the plan enrolls all residents without health insurance, regardless of their income, immigration status or existing medical conditions.

The California Legislature already has started exploring the idea of a adopting a state-run “single-payer” system that would operate similar to Medicare.

A similar plan was rejected in November by Colorado voters by a four-to-one margin. Something about doubling state taxes and spending in the first year didn’t seem to sit well with voters. And as reported last week, California’s top marginal income tax is already the highest in the nation — at 13.3% it’s nearly one-third higher than second-place Maine — so “soaking the rich” doesn’t seem like a viable way to raise the necessary funds. Complicating things, Health and Human Services already consumes nearly a third of California’s spending, $53,828,602,000 out of $170,862,847,000.

But California Democrats enjoy supermajorities in the Assembly and the Senate, so if Newsom takes over for Jerry Brown (as seems likely right now), there won’t be much even slowing them down from enacting “universal” coverage — aside from a few internal fights over how to divvy up the loot.

They’d probably call it “CalCaid One” or something similar, but “Venezuela del Mar” has a nice ring to it.