Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

California´s soaring healthcare costs bode ill for the budget
L.A. Times ^ | 1/8/15 | Chris Megerian

Posted on 01/08/2015 11:02:39 PM PST by Nachum

Sacramento — California´s budget, which bounced back after years of deficits, is now being squeezed by rising healthcare costs for the poor and for retired state workers. The mountain of medical bills threatens to undermine Gov. Jerry Brown´s efforts to strengthen state finances — his central promise of the past four years. Enrollment in the state´s healthcare program for the poor, known as Medi-Cal, has exploded by 50% since President Obama´s signature law took effect. Although the federal government picks up most of the tab, state costs have also been growing, and faster than expected. Meanwhile, the annual bill for

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: california; californias; costs; healthcare; soaring
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-45 next last

1 posted on 01/08/2015 11:02:39 PM PST by Nachum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar; NorwegianViking; ExTexasRedhead; HollyB; FromLori; EricTheRed_VocalMinority; ...

The list, Ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/


2 posted on 01/08/2015 11:03:01 PM PST by Nachum (Obamacare: It's. The. Flaw.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nachum

Gee, who could have seen this coming? I’m totally shocked.


3 posted on 01/08/2015 11:05:33 PM PST by Veggie Todd (The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. TJ)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nachum

Another head of the beast.

Meanwhile, the annual bill for healthcare for public retirees — a benefit promised decades ago — has more than doubled in the last decade. Current and retired workers have accumulated $71.8 billion in healthcare benefits as of June last year, and the state has set aside almost nothing to cover the costs.


4 posted on 01/08/2015 11:05:53 PM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nachum

I just talked to a friend.

30 years old.

Cancer in remission.

$1,200 a month and all kinds of disalloweds..

$10,000 deductible

Wuh hawppen tuh pre-existing?

Horrid!!!


5 posted on 01/08/2015 11:14:42 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Vendome

I sell health insurance in Californicate. All policies sold during ‘open enrollment’ are ‘guaranteed issue’. There are no heatlh questions.

Your friend with Cancer needs to ask the the doctors/hospitals he has treatment from which plans from the ones currently available will pay for the treatment he is recieving. Also, the only way the deductible is that high is if he is on an older plan or it is a family plan with a combined deductible.

It is not the preexisting condition limitations that get the consumer now, it is the restrictions on coverage inside the new policies by the contracts they are forced to sell. :(


6 posted on 01/08/2015 11:20:59 PM PST by Nachum (Obamacare: It's. The. Flaw.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Nachum

7 posted on 01/08/2015 11:36:36 PM PST by hosepipe (" This propaganda has been edited (specifically) to include some fully orbed hyperbole.. ")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nachum; All
 photo 60_zpse7b11910.jpg

8 posted on 01/08/2015 11:37:59 PM PST by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not A Matter of Opinion)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nachum

Well...at least a high speed train to nowhere is being built. (Sigh)


9 posted on 01/08/2015 11:38:43 PM PST by BookmanTheJanitor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Veggie Todd
Don't worry, the Feds (read: red state taxpayers) will bail them out thanks to the WH corruption, Federal Pension Guarantee slush fund Program, and the ACA's "reinsurance" language, especially added and buried deep in the bill so no one would find it to "fix" insolvent blue-state Public Union HC plans.
10 posted on 01/08/2015 11:40:44 PM PST by 4Liberty (Prejudice and generalizations. That's how Collectivists roll......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Nachum
It is not the preexisting condition limitations that get the consumer now, it is the restrictions on coverage inside the new policies by the contracts they are forced to sell.

Are the sellers forced to tell the "consumers" they're getting near worthless policies?

11 posted on 01/08/2015 11:59:49 PM PST by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: BookmanTheJanitor
Well...at least a high speed train to nowhere is being built. (Sigh)

Excellent of you to point that out! Health care system that is being destroyed and never going to be fixed, and a train system that is being built that will never work. Two for two, Jerry Brown, that will bankrupt us all.

12 posted on 01/09/2015 12:29:04 AM PST by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: roadcat

Don’t forget to now include as well “free” community colleges. With no federal legislation, “free” community college will be paid for by states. May be resisted in Texas and Oklahoma, but there will be zeal for it in CA, MA, NY, and so on. And, for TX, probably places like Austin will help in this treasury raid.


13 posted on 01/09/2015 1:32:34 AM PST by C210N (When people fear government there is tyranny; when government fears people there is liberty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Nachum

If California were its own country, it’d be third world by now. Haiti-like.....a few pockets of prosperity with lots of poor.

The thing keeping it afloat is the taxpayers from the other 49 states.


14 posted on 01/09/2015 1:48:47 AM PST by SoFloFreeper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: C210N
Don’t forget to now include as well “free” community colleges.

But that's not Jerry Brown's doing. That's all Obama the village idiot. Jerry is at odds with regents of the University of California system because he actually wants to cut their budget but the regents want to increase it. He's been fighting with UC President Janet Napolitano (yes, that one, Obama's former Sec of Homeland Security).

15 posted on 01/09/2015 2:13:16 AM PST by roadcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: SoFloFreeper

“If California were its own country, it’d be third world by now. Haiti-like.....a few pockets of prosperity with lots of poor.
The thing keeping it afloat is the taxpayers from the other 49 states.”

Unfortunately you are woefully misinformed (or you are just shooting off your mouth ignorantly). California is a net contributor TO the Federal government and substantially so. In fact, California on an absolute dollars basis is the top contributor TO the Federal Government, and our economy is the largest in the country by a wide margin.
You might want to review the chart in the link below. Maybe even the state where you live is, in point of fact, one of the numerous “freeloaders” that get back more than they pay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_taxation_and_spending_by_state


16 posted on 01/09/2015 2:16:54 AM PST by vette6387
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Nachum

“Although the federal government picks up most of the tab....

Right. The money isn’t taken from the states, it’s just magical fedgov money!


17 posted on 01/09/2015 2:19:42 AM PST by Nickname
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: roadcat

“He’s been fighting with UC President Janet Napolitano (yes, that one, Obama’s former Sec of Homeland Security). “

Right you are! No fan of either Brown or Nappy ( and I am a graduate of UC Berkeley to boot, a place I now hate with a passion), but Nappy wants to raise tuition 10% to cover the $16billion shortfall she has in her employee pension system. This problem is a result of the UC Regents back around 2000 deciding that they could reduce contributions based on the returns they were getting that are now just sweet memories.


18 posted on 01/09/2015 2:24:36 AM PST by vette6387
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: vette6387

Yes, I’ve seen data like what Wiki presents elsewhere. It does a good job in defining exactly what the revenue side of the government income from state is but woefully incomplete in its description of the specifics of the payments to the states.

My questions on data like this would be something like this:

Does it include things like EITC payments to California citizens?

Are things like overall SNAP expenditures broken out from the total to show state data?

I just find it difficult to taken in that a state budget like CA has with its deficit and some pretty serious resource and energy problems, that it is such a producer that it is the “engine of the world” so to speak.


19 posted on 01/09/2015 2:29:16 AM PST by Gaffer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Nachum
The Feds may pick up most of the expansion of Medical now, wait till the Feds commitment starts dropping. That is one of the main reasons a lot of GOP Governors refused to expand their state programs. Once you expand it you can not go back..
20 posted on 01/09/2015 3:46:13 AM PST by martinidon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-45 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson