CA: Armed with new report, senator will reintroduce health care plan (Sheila Kuehl,D-Santa Monica)

SACRAMENTO - Armed with a new report showing big savings and backed by the Legislature's two leaders, a Democratic lawmaker announced plans Wednesday to reintroduce her bill to create a universal health care system that would cover all Californians.

The study by the Lewin Group, a Virginia consulting firm, predicts the legislation would save California $343.6 billion in health care costs over the next 10 years, mainly by cutting administration and using bulk purchases of drugs and medical equipment.

The study was paid for by Health Care for All - California, a nonprofit group that supports universal coverage.

The bill's author, Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, said the report "demonstrates that we can do it. We need the will to do it. It makes insurance affordable for everybody."

Kuehl's plan would replace private insurance plans with a "single-payer" system that would be run by an elected commissioner.

The program would be paid for through a combination of current state health expenditures plus new taxes that would replace what individuals and employers now pay for health care, but the Lewin study predicts employers and individuals would save money.

Health care costs for the average family would drop $340 in 2006 under the legislation, the study said.

Kuehl's legislation passed the Senate in 2003 in a scaled back form but never made it out of the Assembly. It was overshadowed by legislation to require large and midsize employers to help pay for health insurance for their workers.

That bill was signed into law by former Gov. Gray Davis but was invalidated by voters last November when they narrowly rejected Proposition 72.

Kuehl said she expects her new bill, which she plans to introduce next month, will draw more attention and opposition this time around.

"Naturally the health insurance companies will not like this," she said. "They are going to totally freak out (and) bring a lot of money to bear and a lot of lies about the plan ... in order to scare people."

A spokesman for the California Association of Life and Health Insurance Companies did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment. A spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also did not immediately return a call. Schwarzenegger opposed Proposition 72 last year.

Kuehl picked up a key supporter Wednesday in Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, who said Senate Democrats would do "all we can to move this legislation."

"This is a good bill to be in love with and we hope you win a lot of converts," he told Kuehl, who said she also has the backing of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles.

But Kuehl said there are also legislators who support her bill but want to reach universal coverage slowly.

"People believe this is the right way to go, (but) they don't know if this is the only way to go this year," she said. "They say, 'Let's develop incrementally.' I say, 'Great. Let's develop incrementally and let this be our long-term vision.'"

"I mean to get this," she added. "I don't know if I will get it while I am still in the Senate. I don't care. I mean to get this because it's the right thing for California."

'Health Insurance' is NOT NOT NOT NOT 'Health Care'!

Any attempt at rationing health insurance will not necessarily ration health care.

Single payer plans do indeed cause a lower price. Monopsonies always pay for goods and services at prices below the efficient market-clearing price. Of course, monopsonists cause distortions which stifle innovation. Further single payers (monopsonists) dictate unilaterally what goods and services are bought. Thus in a Universal Health care approach, a bureaucrat in Sacramento will decide what procedures will be bought. The free market is the only instrument that we have that will optimize our resources AND cause innovation. In healthcare, innovation means NEW cures, treatments, and equipment!!

If we really want to lower the cost of HEALTHCARE (not health insurance), then we must eliminate government medical programs such as Medicare and we must eliminate private health insurance. Programs like Medicare cause government distoration in the healthcare markets. Private healthcare buyers must subsidize Medicare by paying for the excess that Medicare refuses to pay. (For example, a physical therapist charges $100 for a procedure. Medicare declares that they will only pay $80 for it. They tell the PT to take it or leave it. The PT wisely chooses to take it so that his competition doesn't out do him. Then the PT charges the next patient $120 for the same procedure!) The same occurs with private health insurance deals like Blue Cross or Aetna.

Additionally, programs like Medicare and Private Health Insurance plans reduces the costs of healthcare for the individual. Thus the individual will want to consume MORE (remember the law of demand?). This will (does) cause increases in the price of healthcare. Medicare and Private Health Insurance plans need to be eliminated so that EVERYBODY can buy their healthcare with money from their own pockets. These prices will be more affordable for the most part. Some people with abnormal afflications will face higher costs. Purer competition will fuel innovation and further erosion in prices. This must be done on a national scale and we must find a way to discontinue subsidizing the universal health insurance systems of Canada and Europe.

There is really alot to this issue. First we must decide as a nation "is healthcare and health insurance the same thing?" Second, "is healthcare a right or a service to be bought and sold?" Third, "is price the most efficient means to allocate healthcare or should everyone have equal access to healthcare?" Fourth and most important, "are we as individuals responsible for our own destinies or are we the victims of an unfair world?" These four questions are really what we must debate as a nation.

Personally, I believe that healthcare is NOT health insurance. Further, healthcare is a good/service that should be rationed via price. I am the master of my own destiny. My failures can be wholly contributed to my own actions and no one elses.

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