GREAT NEWS: California Doubles Down on Fiscal Suicide

By William Teach

California is a state that miscalculated costs for the state run Medicaid program by $1.9 billion. The state is reckoned to have a $1.6 billion deficit, and Governor Jerry Brown wants to reduce the state budget by $3 billion because of these problems. The inflow of tax money is down. Jobs are leaving. Costs for businesses are up. Costs for citizens are up. The state is the 4th highest in the nation for cost of living. Covered California, the name for the Obamacare plan for the state, has the same problems as everywhere else: ever increasing premiums and deductibles, people can’t afford to use the insurance, doctors aren’t taking it, there are long waits for those doctors that do, and the state is constantly having to give the program more and more money. And, remember this?

Well, let’s make sure we double down on failure:

With Obamacare in jeopardy, California considers going it alone with ‘single-payer’ system

With President Trump now vowing to put forward a replacement for the Affordable Care Act in March, some California politicians and healthcare advocates are once again promoting the idea of a state-run “single-payer” system that operates like Medicare.

Backers say the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s promise to repeal Obamacare presents California with a chance to rethink how healthcare is delivered to its 39 million residents.

“Why wouldn’t we take this as an opportunity to create what we want in California?” Dr. Mitch Katz, head of L.A. County’s health department, said at a conference in December. He mentioned a single-payer system as a possible solution.

Other suggestions for how California can capitalize on the threat to Obamacare include creating a public option, a state-run health plan to sell on the state’s insurance exchange, and mimicking how Massachusetts provided universal healthcare.

In fact:

State Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) introduced a bill Friday that would make California the first state to adopt single-payer, also called “Medicare for all.” Canada has such a system.

What might this look like?

Previous proposals in California suggested financing the agency by pooling the state’s current funding for Medicaid, Medicare and other health programs and then taxing employees 4% of their income and employers 7% of payroll.

Hey, it’s their state, let them do what they want, if we believe in States Rights. It would be a great way to show just how much Leftism would fail. They should do it quickly. Just don’t expect the Republican Congress nor President Trump to bail them out.

Read more at The Pirate’s Cove.