Posted on 12/15/2005 4:59:13 PM PST by NormsRevenge
What has $4.5 billion and provides millions of dollars per year to the left in California and wont stop until California has universal, government-run, and fully unionized healthcare? The answer, three foundations created by Blue Cross conversion from non-profit to for-profit status from the late-80s to the mid-90s: The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation and the California HealthCare Foundation.
These three entities, hijacked by the liberal activists on their boards, fund political activity, liberal consumer rights groups such as the Consumers Union (the publisher of Consumer Reports), and the ACLU, the CTA teachers union, Planned Parenthood, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (the latter for something called, the Transgender Healthcare Action Project), and on and on, as the millions in grants to the inane, the PC, the left-wing, the simply weird, and occasionally, the sane, stretch into the hundreds.
As an example of the mega-foundations increasingly sophisticated political tactics, The California Wellness Foundation gave Karen Bass, a Los Angeles community and healthcare activist, a $12,500 grant on October 24, 2003. Interestingly, the cash came six weeks after Ms. Bass began her campaign for the Democrat Party nomination to the State Assembly. Several staffers involved in the grant process at The California Wellness Foundation also contributed to Ms. Bass campaign. Less than two months after the cash grant, Ms. Bass loaned her campaign $34,000, boosting her effort to eclipse the far better known former L.A. City Councilman Nate Holden and two others to win the primary and go on to represent the 47th Assembly District. The very talented and very liberal Assemblymember Bass is now on the fast track to leadership in the Assemblys powerful Democrat Caucus and holds universal health care as one of her chief interests.
The current target of the billion dollar healthcare foundation cabal is Californias large and effective non-profit hospital system. To the critics of this system such as Health Access California, the California Budget Project, and Consumers Union (all on the foundations payroll, by the way), the non-profits make too much profit, pay their managers too much, and dont do enough to provide free healthcare to the poor. Add to that the SEIU labor unions gripe that the hospitals arent unionized enough, and you have a potent mix of charges sure to move Californias left-tilting legislature to action.
Hospital systems such as Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, and Catholic Healthcare West counter the critics with hard facts: when $40 billion in required seismic retrofit costs plus capital construction are considered, there is little to no profit remaining, they pay their managers what the market dictates, and they do help the poor by, among many ways, subsidizing money-losing hospitals in underprivileged areas something for-profit hospital chains are loathe to do.
What will happen if the attack on Californias non-profit hospital system succeeds? The non-profits will likely be forced to convert to for-profit businesses so they can survive by raising the capital needed to compete. This will leave ordinary, working class Californians will little choice in health care. There will then be two systems: the private, for-profit one for the rich and the government-run and fully unionized one for everyone else.
With salaries and benefits in excess of $600,000 per year, I guess we know which hospital system the three healthcare foundation CEOs will use, dont we?
In the end, this episode shows one fundamental truth: liberals are willing to invest tremendous energy to create for themselves engines of change to forcibly remake America in their image. Where are the three foundations that conservatives have hijacked with a net worth of $4.5 billion?
The solution? Get a few conservatives on the boards of these three foundations to hold them accountable. Unwatched, they will become even more aggressive in funding candidates and causes that are no doubt contrary to their ostensible mission.
Yes, universal healthcare at taxpayer expense is their goal, and it is shocking how close they already are to achieving it.
California's version of Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal cost $36B in 2005 -- the second largest item in the State Budget after K-12 Education.
Of that, the Fed puts up $23B and California picks up the other $13B -- including all of the $2B spent on over 400,000 illegal immigrants that are eligible for Medi-Cal even though the Fed does no cost-sharing for illegals. This is on top of all the people that receive free healthcare through Medicare.
Actually, Federal "funds" are a myth. All that money came from California taxpayers originally, anyway. It was withheld as income and payroll taxes and then back to the State as matching funds for these mandated programs.
There are 6.6M people enrolled in Medi-Cal -- in a state with 30M people total. If Medi-Cal is supposed to be only for poor families with children or the elderly poor and disabled, then that would mean 22% of California's population lives in poverty ? Ridiculous. And to spend $36B on 6.6M enrollees means over $5,400 each. That is a lot more than the average premium for excellent HMO plans purchased directly.
California supposedly spends less on its version of Medicaid than most States. Very hard to believe.
I read something at Heritage that says 60% of Medicaid expenses are for services and groups that are not part of the Federal mandate -- it is simply the States themselves playing Santa Claus with taxpayer money. And not spending it wisely when it is costing over $5K/yr per enrollee.
If California eliminated the eligibility for illegals, it would save $2B/yr. If it eliminated all the extras that are not part of the Federal mandate, it would save another $20B. California's portion of the cost sharing would only be $5B instead of the current $13B, saving the taxpayers $8B. That alone would allow California taxes to be reduced by 10%. If all of the States took similar measures, it would cut the Federal Budget by almost $200B !
Too late now, Mexifornia is over!
Uhh. . . the linked article? Authored by:
Chuck DeVore
"Assemblyman Chuck DeVore represents 450,000 residents of Orange County Californias 70th Assembly District.. He served as a Reagan White House appointee in the Pentagon from 1986 to 1988 and was Senior Assistant to Cong. Chris Cox. He is a Major in the Army National Guard. Chucks novel, CHINA ATTACKS, sells internationally and has been translated into Chinese for sales in Taiwan. "
Uhh, clearly not.
The lady said it was about health care and was I male,18 or older? Yes
Then she asked if I was Mexican. No.
Then she asked if I was Black. No.
Then she asked if I was America Indian. No.
Then she asked if I was a something else and I came unglued.
I told her I was a 72 year old Dumb Ass native born White guy from a German Heritage and to knock off the refenence to race and get on with the survey.
All I heard was Crickets dial tone...
Incredible! (nice response, btw!)
ping for later
Good article. Thanks.
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.