CPR: The California Senate voted late on June 1 to create a single-payer health-care system that will cover every resident in the state with no money out of their pockets. But this “free” health care would be anything but. Its costs are going to be steep, painful, probably deadly – and might violate a key taxpayer protection in the State Constitution known as the Gann Limit.
Under the Healthy California Act (Senate Bill 562), the state would cover all medical expenses, even those incurred by illegal immigrants. There would be no premiums to keep current, no deductibles to meet before coverage starts, nor copays to contribute. All must participate, even those happy with their employer-provided health insurance or their private individual plans.
The cost? A mere $400 billion a year, according to a Senate Appropriations Committee estimate. For those who worry about such details – which apparently excludes the 23 Democrats who voted for the bill – that’s more than three times the state’s proposed 2017-2018 $124 billion General Fund budget. more here
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I have a better idea: Why doesn’t california just pass a law that provides free health care for all of Mexico? That way they can feel really good about themselves, and the Mexicans won’t need to move to America!
Gee Wally, I gotta great idea for a sign:
The U.S. is not!!
responsible for
supporting a
failed nation
California!
youth-in-asia
@Tony: Why doesn’t California just pass a law that provides free health care for all of Mexico?
I swear they already do. Never, ever go into a southern California ER. They drive up from Mexico, they fly in, stay with relatives, they get primo care here, sometimes they go home after, sometimes they stay–but they never pay. They use the ER for a doctor’s office. Got a bad cold? Go to the ER, bring the whole family, even the healthy ones so you take up all the ER seats in the waiting area, settle in, have lunch, let your kids run around screaming and hacking all over the really sick people waiting. It’s like a day at the park for them.
I was briefly on the Riverside County health program and had to actually make appointments at the hospital. This was 7 years ago and I still hold a grudge. Even with an appointment, you were there for the day.
Not that I am bitter. *snort*
That’s $10,235 per citizen. Half are retired or unemployed. Now you’re looking at $20,000 per working adult, Per year. Good luck.
Merry: My wife had her first child in a San Diego hospital. Because she didn’t have insurance, she had to pay cash, and had to leave the next day because one day was all she could afford. Meanwhile the Mexicans would come up through Tiajuana, and could spend as long as they wanted. For free. Her daughter is now 41. Some things never change. This is why California is majority Hispanic .
The proponent groups, including the California Nurses Association, all try to justify this potential financial disaster by claiming that if payroll taxes are increased X percent, we will raise Y dollars or some other similar tax scheme. But it never works out that way, because these groups always assume that economic activity in that sector will remain the same. That is almost never true.
California is an expensive state in which to live. Too many people, including many of those who are driving the big Mercedes (leased) down the freeway to their beach condos (rented) with their fancy clothes and Rolexes (for everything there is Mastercard – maxed out of course) are essentially living month to month or are financially underwater. It is difficult to start a business in that state, and the single payer plan will compete for dollars with the high speed rail project, AB 32 (anti-global warming initiative) and CalTrans, as well as education and California’s generous welfare program. The rich won’t pay for it – they will leave and many already have their domiciles elsewhere. Businesses will relocate or expand elsewhere – I am aware of at least two large companies who are contracting their California operations and moving elsewhere. California’s golden goose is being fucked and plucked.
But once a state gets into an expensive boondoggle like universal single payer health care, how do you get out without screwing over virtually all of the residents? California will undoubtably look to the federal government to subsidize its idiocy, and my guess is that this is what California democrats are counting on. It would take strong politicians at the federal government level to let California crash and burn, but this would be best for the nation as a whole if this were allowed to happen.
I like the poster. Where did anyone ever come up with this idea that our nation has an obligation to serve as a “safety valve” for Mexico? I have heard people use this phrase — they are instantly labeled as morons when I hear it. What nonsense. I have no animosity toward Mexico, but we owe them not a damned thing. What have they done for us lately? Build the wall, deport all illegals, and then stop immigration forever. Unless we stop it we are going to hit .5 billion in this country and we’ll look more like Bangladesh and less like Switzerland. Does that not sound like fun?