Subj : My essay on the California Single Payer Bill
To : All
From : matt munson
Date : Sun Apr 30 2017 12:52 pm
Killing Off the Private Option is the Fatal Flaw for SB 562
I understand that our progressive friends want single payer health care where
government manages it all. However single payer is not all that glamorous when
you
read the ugly stories in Canada and the United Kingdom about their system. It
was
predicted that the Affordable Care Act was basically training wheels for Single
Payer
because right now the system is ready to derail big time in the next few years.
Certain
states are going to have NO insurance company as part of their health care
exchanges
because insurance companies are unwilling to partake in the government system
no
matter if it is federal or state managed.
Enter SB 562, California�s effort in having a single payer health care system.
Co-written
by Senators Lara and Atkins it is called the �Healthy California Act�, where
the authors
strive to improve access to health care. I agree that something should be done
when
insurance premiums are approaching almost 10 thousand dollars for a family.
However,
the bad point of the bill is no private option.
The health plans that people rely on will be shuddered thanks to this
legislation. Many
people in California love Kaiser Pernamente due to it being the Mercedes Benz
of health
care plans. With this new law, we will be forced into the government system or
if you
are wealthy you would have to go out of state to pay cash for the health care
you need.
The big fear of SB 562 is the reimbursement rates, I would expect to see a
health care
provider shortage when doctors decide to either retire or move out of
California. Medi-
Cal currently has a provider shortage due to reimbursement rates. The
Democratic Party
would likely need to have programs where if one gets educated at the UC medical
school
they would be required to take care of patients in the state program for a
decade in
exchange for a modest salary.
I think the authors of SB 562 need to go back to the drawing board and come up
with an
idea like Medicare Part C and D and the Australian health care system.
Government
cannot do it all despite many believing it can. Public option can coexist with
a Private
option.
Fiscally, even if we are paying a 9% tax to help fund the program, will it be
sustainable?
States such as Vermont crashed and burn when they tried single payer. The
California
Public Employee Retirement System also has funding shortfalls as well. I am
skeptical of
California politicians managing money if I trusted Bernie Madoff to manage my
portfolio.
Also, the new California tax is regressive when it comes to low income workers.
One
would be paying the unsubsidized price before ACA subsidies which would take
away
money that one may need for their car payment or groceries. Democrats are
criticizing
Trump for doing similar things.
Due to the Super Majority this bill is likely to pass no matter if you like it
or not to infer
from a quote from Gavin Newsom when he was speaking how equal marriage rights
was
inevitable. However, this bill needs to go back to the drawing board. We need
to come
up with solutions to improve the supply of medical providers, how would the
authors
deal with the issue of big health care networks controlled by the private
sector deciding
to shut down where private hospitals such as Kaiser Pernamente will fold in
California,
how would the authors make the payroll tax equitable to low income workers.
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