Posted on 08/28/2006 7:39:01 PM PDT by FairOpinion
The Assembly narrowly approved a bill Monday that would provide health insurance to all residents, a move that would make California the only state to offer government-operated universal health care.
The bill, which passed the 80-member house on a largely party-line vote of 43-30, received strong Democratic backing. But supporters say pressure from the insurance industry and Republican lawmakers is likely to doom the measure when it reaches Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The governor's office has declined to take a position on the bill, but Schwarzenegger in the past has voiced his opposition to single-payer systems.
The bill by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, must be approved by the state Senate before it heads to the governor's desk. It would provide every California resident with health insurance through a system controlled by a newly created entity called the California Health Insurance Agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
This bill alone can not only destroy California, but will literally endanger your life, because it will mean rationing of healthcare.
I think the Dem Senate committe already approved it and it will be approved by the entire Senate.
Arnold is the only one standing between you and socialized medicine.
Angelides is on record that he will sign it.
Good test for Arnold.
A statewide campaign to grow support for universal health care and a single-payer health care system in California kicked off Saturday in Morro Bay.
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/local/15264240.htm
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger does not support a single-payer system, calling it a tax increase. Gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides has said he would sign the bill if he wins the November election."
What I suspect Arnold will do is veto it, point out the problems with this bill (it does have problems in terms of how it would be administered, beyond the question of how it would be funded), and then say that he will lead an effort ("A better program...") if re-elected to expand health care coverage to the state's uninsureds.
"But opponents counter that access to health care would be limited under a single-payer system because care would be rationed and the latest medical technologies would no longer be widely available.
They also argue that the reform would result in a multi-billion dollar tax hike, and the states population would explode as people moved to California to take advantage of the new system, according to Senate and Assembly committee reports which list arguments for and against the bill. "
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1690230/posts
Arnold already vetoed a "healthcare for all the children" bill.
Sure, the ileagal invasion has already bankrupted most emergency service facilities. Why not just drive the final nail in the coffin?
The dems here in Cal are the most vile in the entire USA.
"Why not just drive the final nail in the coffin? "
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That's about what this bill would do.
"In theory, payroll taxes on businesses and individual income taxes would replace the premiums that individuals and businesses now pay to insurers. The bill does not allocate funding for the new system, and the funding method would have to be approved separately before the measure could go into effect."
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14310556p-15207669c.html
Taxpayers will move out and taxusers will move in. It's hell trying to fund utopia with taxusers.
Anybody have any idea how this impacts Kaiser. Are they against this? Wife works for them in Maryland.
We all know that the taxpayers of Cal would end up footing the bill for a "health care" system that would be a dismal failure.
"Greg Aghazarian, (R) Stockton: "Let's face it. We shouldn't be putting the decision-making process for healthcare into the hands of the government. Do we really want another DMV making healthcare decisions for so many hard-working Californians?"
The governor has already said he'd veto the bill, opting instead to bring political parties, consumer groups, businesses and the insurance industry together next year to solve the healthcare crisis.
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Thank God. Now we just have to make sure to keep Arnold for another four years.
Already the U.S. has $ 80 Trillion in entitlement obligations going forward. What's a few Hundred Billion Dollars more? No big deal. Nothing to see here. "Move along people, move along." Freepers all say in unison, "OMG ! Aaaack! I did not know . . ."
Are California legislators and other California politicians included in this "universal health care" scheme along with the general public? Will they stand in the same lines and get exactly the same level of health care as everybody else in the state?
Or do they get to have their own separate health care plan?
Thanks,
LH

It will defeinitely see the sick and ill throughout the US and the world flock to California to acquire affordable coverage.
New Jersey's health insurance laws which provide universal right to buy health insurance coverage has created a situation where NJ has the highest (or second highest depending on the year) health insurance coverage costs in the nation.
The insurance companies can not discriminate but they can enforce waiting periods for pre existing conditions. No one outside the richest 2% of the population in NJ who has continuous coverage and a long term illness will ever leave NJ, the economics are impossible.
Recently had a family friend move from NJ to NC to enjoy the lower cost of living and do the semiretirement change with the new empty nest, a few months there, she found out she has a certain long term disease, her insurance went from 85% of the equivalent cost in NJ to ~400% the equivalent cost in NJ. Plus she would have a $400,000 lifetime max coverage for the illness. In NJ it's usually unlimited, though some policies are $1 million cap.
Now translate that to statewide universal coverage.
"Universal free healthcare" is the first step towards rationed healthcare. California needs to go for it. "If you build it, they will come!" (And come until the state goes broke.)
More items of note:
"The bill, which passed the 80-member house on a largely party-line vote of 43-30, received strong Democratic backing."
"The bill passed the Senate by a straight party-line vote of 25-15 in May 2005. Mondays action in the Assembly returns it to the Senate for a final vote on amendments. The bill is expected to reach Schwarzeneggers desk by Sept. 1."
http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_240214442.html
The point of the above is also to remind everyone of the ratio of Dems/R-s in the CA Legislature.
The Republicans are vastly outnumbered.
With a Dem governor, nothing stands in the way of this leftist liberal Dem Legislature from passing hundreds of bills making CA into a "socialist paradise".
As long as you and your wife are not in CA, you are OK. Kaiser would survive without CA.
I still have family in San Diego. My sister is a nurse. My 78 year old mother still has healthcare from the Naval hospital as the window of a naval officer. My middle son has some benefits from the USMC. It is terrible news.
Does that make Sheila Kuehl a CHIA Pet?
If this bill was to pass, would that mean that all physicians, nurses and medical personnel would then become state employees? If so, then the pay cuts are coming. Who would spend all those years in med school to be handed a income controlled paycheck? Doctor shortages will be the next thing.
Oh, hey, now I'm SURE illegals aren't going to flood right into Cali..! GREAT!
Everyone who can afford itcarries secondary insurance in the UK and Canada... National Health didn't change a thing...
The Dims will not give up until they've destroyed the nation.
A glimpse into socialized healthcare in Canada:
Healthcare in Canada, a true test of patience , says survey
http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=13727
A survey conducted among many Canadian households has revealed that nearly 40 per cent of the respondents were unable to realize timely medical guidance and facilities, especially during the bygone three months.
The Decima poll conducted amongst 3,000 Canadians has shown that 81 per cent of households required medical care during the previous three months and felt the waiting times were unwarranted. Many felt that emergency care and appointments with specialists were unduly delayed.
Among total respondents, 37 percent felt, at least one person in their household had been denied timely medical assistance. The percentage of people facing indifference from healthcare was found to be higher in households that required medical care urgently or needed to meet with a specialist.
National Healthcare = Stethoscope Socialism
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16494
A national healthcare system may be the Holy Grail of American liberalism. If only the government managed medicine, the argument goes, costs could be restrained, quality assured, and access extended from the poshest beach house to the humblest shotgun shack. On NBCs Meet the Press last fall, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D.Ill.) advocated a universal health-care system over the next 10 years. If Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D.N. Y.) reaches the Oval Office, she likely would take another crack at socialized medicine, as she did so disastrously in 1994.
Amy Ridenour of the National Center for Public Policy Research sees this model more as a poisoned chalice. Her Washington-based free-market think tank (with which I am a Distinguished Fellow) has begun educating Americans on the massive belly flop that is state-sponsored healthcare. Wherever bureaucrats control medicine, the wise money says: Dont get sick.
It would be bad enough if national healthcare merely offered patients low-quality treatment. Even worse, Ridenour finds, it kills them.
Breast cancer is fatal to 25 percent of its American victims. In Great Britain and New Zealand, both socialized-medicine havens, breast cancer kills 46 percent of women it strikes.
It won't work, especially in CA, and hopefully will be the deathnell of this tired socialist failure.
So I just have to move to California for 30 ~ 90 days(?) and my health care is free?
Excellent! I'll winter in California and have all my ailments fixed by the taxpayers in California.
/S
Probably not to be honest, they are already getting free health care :-)
How about free food?
Maybe clothing?
Or houses?
I just find it interesting that the commies pushing this don't ever explain why medical care should be singled out for subsidy.
"Why only "health care?"
How about free food?
Maybe clothing? "
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NOW you are talking. Healthcare is just the FIRST STEP.
What you describe is exactly the socialist utopia the liberals are striving for -- one step at a time.
How do I save my state from going off the deep end..... somebody help me...PLEASE! Living in Lost Angeles.
As it should be per our Constitution - the STATE has the authority to enact such legislation.
What is unconstitutional is the federal govt intervention into a state's rights for self governance.
If Kalifornicate wants to go absolutely fiscally, morally, and medically bankrupt - that's their problem and SOLELY their problem.
It will only ration health care for the poor and middle class...The rich,liberals,movie stars and such will have GREAT access to health care...You won't see them standing in line with the little people!!!!!!
It isn't solely CA's problem, CA comprises some 10-15% of the total US economy. You can't write that off without consequences to the country.
DAY 1..Health care signed into law. DAY 2...50 million mexicans stampede over the border!!!!!!
"How do I save my state from going off the deep end..... somebody help me...PLEASE! Living in Lost Angeles."
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VOTE for Arnold and have all your friends get out and vote for him, and while you are out, vote for all the Republican candidates.
As I said earlier, and it's really true, right now Arnold is the only one standing between us and full socialism in CA, starting with this horrendous bill.
Oh, goody. So how much is this universal health care going to cost me? Not being in one of the Dims' favored victim groups, I will never qualify for it, but will certainly wind up paying for it anyway.
"DAY 1..Health care signed into law. DAY 2...50 million mexicans stampede over the border!!!!!!"
DAY 3: all businesses and working people move OUT of CA.
DAY 4...Calif bankrupt.Demands feds pay all bills!!!!
You will end up paying and paying, and still not getting quality healthcare.
Read article posted in post 29 with some stats about survival rates in countries with socialized medicine vs. the US.
DAY 5: Dems announce it's all Bush's fault and demand that the Federal Government bail them out.
You omitted the medical doctors. They'll leave too.
California neo-coms seem bent on the proven failures of liberal socialism/communism, so not much anyone can do until it fails completely.
For you though... Rent your house out at an exorbitant fee to the out of state families coming to get free (to them) health care, then retire to another state.
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