What if they move to Floriduh?
When David Tepper moved from New Jersey to Florida, New Jersey shuddered.
Posted on 06/03/2017 8:07:48 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
And you thought House Republicans dumped a mess into the hands of their Senate counterparts with the American Health Care Act. At least Congress put together some sort of fiscal plan to fund the changes in the AHCA at the federal level. In California, supermajority Democrats in the state Senate passed aSB562, a single-payer health system law, with not even any proposals to find the $400 billion a year it will cost the Golden State.
That, by the way, is almost three times the state budget that goes into effect in four weeks:
The California Senate voted Thursday to advance a longshot single-payer health care plan that would replace insurance companies with government-funded health care for everyone in the state.
The move came even as proponents acknowledged they don’t know how to pay its huge $400 billion price tag. But supporters say the measure means big savings for families.
So why move on it now? According to the rules in the state legislature, Democrats had to play Beat the Clock to keep the bill alive:
The measure would have died if it failed to clear the Senate this week. Democrats said they wanted to keep it alive as the Assembly tries to work out a massive overhaul of the state health care system.
In other words, Democrats in the upper chamber didn’t trust themselves to pass it again … or to figure out a funding plan. That leaves their colleagues in the lower chamber to craft a funding plan that comes up with at least $200 billion a year to pay for it, and that’s only if the federal government provides a waiver to use Medicare and Medicaid funds to pay the other $200 billion a year.
It also assumes that California can properly manage a single payer system. State senator Janet Nguyen isn’t optimistic based on the state’s track record so far:
“This bill idealistically assumes California can deliver on its promise to 40 million people,” said Sen. Janet Nguyen, a Fountain Valley Republican. “Yet… the state is failing to sustain the current government-funded system, Medi-Cal, that only serves 14 million people.”
That doesn’t include failures on a variety of other programs, such as the high-speed rail system that has yet to build any length of track despite being under way for almost a decade since its 2008 approval by referendum. Or, for that matter, properly funding and reforming the state’s pension system, which is bankrupting local communities. Perhaps funding these projects should take precedence over the seizure of a major part of the economy, the resources for which the state has no idea to acquire.
Just what happens in a single-payer system to provider access? Let’s let the LA Times and USC health care economist Darius Lakdawalla provide a little fantasy-to-reality contrast:
“Doctors would no longer have to deal with…hundreds of payers,” Lighty said. “You now have a single payer who will pay reliably or swiftly.”
Depending on how the program decides to reimburse for care, that could affect how much providers get paid. Lighty said the program would likely use the same rates as Medicare, which is less than what commercial insurers pay but more than Medi-Cal.
“Imagine what will happen if physician reimbursements fell by 15 to 20%, and those same reimbursements did not fall in Washington, Oregon, Arizona — [states that] are not implementing single-payer,” Lakdawalla said. “What happens to the population of doctors practicing in California?”
The question right now is even more basic. How can advocates claim that government will pay swiftly and reliably with less red tape by adopting a Medicare model — for a system that the legislature has no idea how to fund? Insanity, thy name is California.
I think if they actually implement this pipe dream, it may well be the straw that broke the DemoRATs backs here. From what I have read,it would take a 15% income surtax to finance this boondoggle. And you can be sure the shrinking middle class would be picking up the lion’s share of the costs because they’re the only one’s working here. Jerry Brown is trying to “shoot the moon” for his “legacy” as his “sullied political career” draws to an end.
Government price controls ALWAYS ALWAYS result in shortages. ALWAYS.
They are going to get the 200,000,000,000 the Federal Government gives them via Medicare, I believe. So half of that, $5,000 per head per year? Still completely unaffordable.
No, ONLY $20,000 per year. Be kind.
Actually, if you go and toss out approximately 50-percent of medical procedures, limit people on replacement knees/hips to only those with the right health/weight, and toss on a massive cigarette/alcohol tax....you could probably fund this (the cost would decrease from the $400 billion). Course, go explain to folks that a single pack of smokes would now cost $12 (up from roughly $6) and see how aggravated they will get.
California believes money grows on trees and it’s just there for the picking.
California believes money grows on trees and it’s just there for the picking.
Hey, Bezos, Musk, and other California Gazillionares will pay for it. Right?
Always remember, politicians see the people as a near infinite taxable resource to fund their little kingdoms & fancy projects.
I keep waiting for the final straw that will chase me out of California, the state I grew up in, went to college in, got married in and had children in. If this single-payer plan ever gets anywhere near being ratified into law, that will probably be it.
It’s a small price to pay for FREE(!) health coverage.
bookmark
What if they move to Floriduh?
When David Tepper moved from New Jersey to Florida, New Jersey shuddered.
Hmmmm, I won’t need health insurance...just a ticket to California ;-)
Yep the idiots pass a Bill that almost quadruples their annual budget (which does not cover a lot of other unfunded “rights”) and ignores that they can’t pay for what they already promise....
Solution: Request hospitals, doctors, pharmacies, drug manufacturers, etc to make up the difference through pro bono.
So, 40 mil citizens in CA but, how many actually PAY taxes? And of those how many actually pay any real amount of taxes? (graduated income tax doncha know). Now we divide those high paying taxpayers by 400 or 200 Billion and see how much more they will be paying. I’m betting it’s a lot more than $10,000/yr. But maybe it will be much less expensive when the payer denies all the claims. Can you say out of pocket?
"After the (CA) Assembly passes the bill, we'll figure out how to fund the bill" - CA Democrat Assembly.
I'm seeing a trend here. There must be something in the water used by CA Democrats.
South Park
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.