Posted on 08/25/2006 10:31:59 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
No one knows exactly how much Californians spend on health care, but it's somewhere between $150 billion and $200 billion a year. ...
Nor do we know exactly how many of California's 37 million residents lack health insurance, but it's somewhere between 6 million and 7 million, one of the nation's largest proportions of medically uninsured, reflecting the state's immense population of illegal immigrants and the multifaceted and diffused nature of its economy.
--snip--
... in the final days of the 2006 legislative session, with the Legislature once again poised to approve a state-operated, universal health care system and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger poised, by all accounts, to veto it.
This year's version is Senate Bill 840, carried by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, that cleared the Senate on a straight party-line, 25-15 vote, and will be passed by the Assembly in the next few days. ...
Advocates claim that with California spending more than $180 billion a year on health care now, a single-payer system would lower overall spending while covering everyone by slicing off expensive layers of health insurer overhead. An estimated 44 percent of the costs would be covered by converting existing governmental programs to the new system, while the remaining 56 percent would come from consumers and/or their employers in lieu of private insurance.
--snip--
Twelve years ago, by a 3-1 margin, California's voters rejected a Canadian-style, universal health care ballot measure that the California Medical Association proposed. Two years ago, albeit by just 1.6 percentage points, they nullified another stab at universal health care, centered on employer mandates, that a very liberal Legislature and former Gov. Gray Davis had enacted.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Jamming the issue at Arnold. I hope he doesn't go ahead and sign the darn thing.
That's a big number. Must include all the citizens of other countries resident in the state.
Maybe next session, the legislature would like to propose paying for all the health care for citizens of other countries that don't actually reside in California. No need to actually cross the border to get the benefits.
My experience is that people of all political persuasions go ballistic if you take away their healthcare choices. A total and complete government takeover of the system will take away plenty of choice, along with access, technology, quality, etc.
SB 840 is a pie in sky plan with "free" healthcare funded by: 1. people "assigning" their full Medicare and Medic-aid benefits to the state (good luck) and 2. a massive 14.5% payroll tax. Polls show it is opposed by 75% of voters, even before the negatives are presented.
The legislature is demonstrating how completely out of touch they are with voters on this subject. They truly do not care what the electorate thinks when their interest groups want something. Even the liberal legislators I've spoken with privately acknowledge that this is no solution that they would want for themselves or their families, but they vote for it anyway.
( No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo!)
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