As the California Senate considers voting this week on a proposal to replace private health insurance with a statewide health plan that covers everyone, the bill’s main backers on Wednesday heralded a new study that says the plan could save Californians $37.5 billion annually in health care spending — even after adding the state’s nearly 3 million uninsured.
The favorable findings by economists at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, comes a week after a Senate committee released eye-popping estimates that threatened to dampen enthusiasm for the bill. The committee’s analysis projected that the statewide plan would cost $400 billion annually, half of which would likely need to come from workers and businesses through a 15 percent payroll tax.
If the state adopts a single-payer plan, “Californians will get more and will definitely pay less,” Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, the co-author of Senate Bill 562, said at a news conference Wednesday.
If California passes this bill, and it is even half as successful as predicted, the argument against a nation wide single payer system will become even harder to make.
(I wrote this post yesterday, but since then the vote has taken place and the bill has passed.)
Bill Maher once said "As goes California, so goes the rest of the country."
And that is typically correct, though it does take some portions of the country decades to catch up.
In other news it appears that the GOP health care plan has virtually NO support.
Courtesy of CNN Money:
Americans are not too enamored with the House GOP bill to repeal Obamacare.
Only 8% think the Senate should pass the legislation as is, according to a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
About half of respondents think the upper chamber should make either "major" or "minor" changes to it, while 29% say the Senate should not pass the bill.
Can you say "dead in the water?"
Let's face it Americans have seen the future and it is government run single payer health care for all.
I love the concept, but they have to plug a YUUUGE loophole: what is preventing a red-stater to come to CA just to get free health care?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that you would have to be a resident to qualify and in that case you would be paying taxes for the services. If not it wouldn't be much different than going to the ER and not being able to afford to pay for it since I am sure the costs would be controlled differently in a single payer system. Did Massachusetts have a problem with this issue with Romneycare? That would be something to look into.
DeleteI'm sure they'll take that into consideration.
DeleteLike you'll have to be a resident. There will be standards for proving residency.
Most red staters poo poo liberal California and wouldn't move here voluntarily.
Our cost of living is so much more than Texas and we have individual state income tax on top of the Federal income tax.
I'm sure red-staters will be more than happy to stay in Michigan and drink that Flint water or stay in Texas ( as long as you're not Mexican, Black, Muslim or any other color besides white.)
Businesses are going to love single payer because they will no longer have to provide health insurance. They'll do the math and any added taxes will still save them on what they would be paying in health insurance for their workers.
""There's no such thing as a self-made or completely individual person," she said.
ReplyDelete"Everybody gets to where they are through support, one way or another, and health care is something that I can't do on my own. I can take care of 100 dogs, I can run a successful tour business … but I can't do health care."""This congressional seat is the first job I've ever had to actually apply for,"
https://www.adn.com/politics/2017/06/02/blind-iditarod-veteran-jumps-into-oregon-politics-over-health-care/
The numbers alone will force the US to single payer. As soon as we get a sane person as president. Republicans were pushing single payer until Mrs. Clinton came along, and of course, they had to be against whatever she was supporting.
ReplyDeletemlaiuppa at 11:10am says, "Businesses are going to love single payer because they will no longer have to provide health insurance. "
ReplyDeleteI have never understood why businesses nationwide aren't all over single-payer for this very reason. Why wouldn't they love to not have to worry any about health care?
Probably because some never offered health insurance. It wasn't a mandated law on the state or federal level.
DeleteOriginally healthcare was offered as a carrot, a perk to attract workers. I think it was post WWII but not sure. At any rate companies wanted skilled workers so they would offer benefits on top of wages to be competitive and attract workers.
If you could make the same money, plus get health, dental, a retirement pension and vacation you'd pick that company over the other that didn't offer the same.
Companies did away with pensions first, then healthcare. Now they're bitching they have to pay a living wage and whine bitterly they are forced to provide maternity leave.
Compared to the rest of the world, we are the third world barbaric banana republic.
See Michael Moore's Where should we invade next? Very eye opening.
Then they'll have to start competing for workers in other ways.
ReplyDeleteLike vacation time, raises to keep up with inflation, other stuff.
What will happen to the insurance industry if it is not required? It is a gargantuan industry that now is able to bank and extend credit. It is unnaturally powerful. Who was bailed out first in 2008? AIG, the largest insurance company in the world was bailed out within days of acknowledgment the downturn had begun. We need a new paradigm economically and philosophically in this country, and this is the beginning of the journey to do so.
ReplyDeleteI guess the insurance industry would have to step up and be competitive to try to attract those that could afford private insurance and would rather not be covered under universal. Of course, there would have to be something in the law that would require all people to pay into it whether they use it or not. Like all people pay property taxes to support schools even though they don't have children. Everyone benefits from an educated populace and everyone benefits from a healthy populace with access to healthcare.
DeleteEducation IS National Security.
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