California single-payer healthcare bill passes first committee test

azmastablasta

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Everyone gets a unicorn, lifetime supply of free Bubble Up and Rainbow Stew and a money tree in their backyard in California — well, not exactly, but they might as well since the recent universal healthcare legislation that passed its first major step there is about as well-thought out and reasonable.

California single-payer healthcare bill passes first committee test
Melanie Mason April 26 2017

A sweeping measure that would establish government-run universal healthcare in California cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday as scores of supporters crammed into the Capitol to advocate for a single-payer system.

The Senate Health Committee approved the measure on a 5-2 vote after a nearly three-hour hearing, but Democrats and Republicans alike signaled unease with the major question still unanswered in the legislation: how the program would be paid for.

The bill, SB 562, would establish a publicly run healthcare plan that would cover everyone living in California, including those without legal immigration status. The proposal would drastically reduce the role of insurance companies: The state would pay for all medical expenses, including inpatient, outpatient, emergency services, dental, vision, mental health and nursing home care.

The measure says the program would be funded by "broad-based revenue," but does not specify where that money would come from.

"How can we go forward with this bill without a fiscal analysis, a detailed financing plan?" asked Sen. Janet Nguyen (R-Garden Grove).

Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), a coauthor of the bill, said a detailed financial study would be completed in May, before the bill is heard in the Appropriations Committee, a key fiscal panel.

"Sen. [Toni] Atkins and I are not just going to do this on a whim," Lara said, referring to his coauthor, a Democrat from San Diego. "We want to make sure it's sustainable."

With the significant unanswered question of funding still looming, lawmakers turned their focus to the implementation of such a system, with ideas including the use of electronic health records and securing waivers from the federal government to administer Medicare and Medi-Cal funds.

"Because I ask questions about how we operationalize the bill, it should not call into question my commitment to healthcare for all," Sen. Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said, emphasizing that her inquiries were on "the issue of how we get it done."

Supporters of the bill turned out in force at the Capitol, many wearing red shirts identifying them as members of the California Nurses Assn., a powerful labor group sponsoring the bill. Other labor groups, including the California Labor Federation, and consumer groups also backed the effort, as well as members of the grass-roots Our Revolution group inspired by the 2016 presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

A wide array of business groups opposed the measure, including health insurers, manufacturers and the California Chamber of Commerce, which called the bill a "job killer."

The hearing came on the heels of a fact-finding trip to Canada by Lara, who, who along with two other Democratic senators met with health officials in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec to learn about their single-payer healthcare systems.

In an interview, Lara described how his spring break trip to Canada helped inform his views on public healthcare. He said his Canadian hosts acknowledged their healthcare system was not perfect, pointing to long wait times to see specialists as a legitimate concern.

But other fears, such as whether public healthcare would dampen research and innovation, were assuaged by a visit to a high-tech cardiac center in Toronto, he said.

"It was refreshing for me to see that … under a public system that research and state-of-the-art facilities and care can also exist," Lara said.

None of the Canadian experts warned the senators away from pursuing a single-payer plan, but they recommended a cautious approach, Lara said, particularly when it comes to deciding at the outset what type of care would be covered under the public plan.

The advice was to "be very diligent and thoughtful in terms of what you're going to offer — because once you offer it, you can't take it away," Lara said. They also advised looking to other models — not just Canada's — in crafting a plan for California. Lara said he intends to examine Taiwan's healthcare system, as well as Maryland's "all-payer" system, in which all private insurers pay the same rate for hospital procedures.

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-single-payer-healthcare-20170426-story.html
 
Even Canada, who they want to follow, said essentially don't do this. And if you do, don't give us any credit, try taiwan.


What are the odds they would listen?
 
I never thought I would experience the effects of "socialized healthcare." Man, was I wrong.

We live in a small area. Small towns. Small hospitals. Small everything. Well, one day last summer I was doubled over in pain that was mimicking a heart attack (I'm 32, so it was odd). My wife drove me to the ER, where I was told to go sit in the waiting room and they'll come get me. Clenching my left arm, in serious pain, I said to myself, "I'm going to die here, while these people with sore throats watch me."

After about twenty minutes they finally got me into the ER, where it was discovered that I had a heart infection. Nothing too serious, but if it was, there's no way I would've lived.

The problem isn't everyone having healthcare. The problem occurs when someone else is paying for the care. My wife and I pay for everything our insurance doesn't. There's no federal programs to save you from a $1,600 bill when you have a job. So, we wisely choose when to go to the ER, and when not to go. However, these people milking the government and the tax payer for all they've got don't care. They run to ER on a weekend "just because." Not because they're potentially dying, but because their doctor couldn't see them that week.

Also, I've never spoken to a health worker that supported any form of socialized healthcare. Apparently they're all in Commiefornia.
 
If you ever go to a DMV in my part of the state...you will immediatly see what we will be up against going to the doctor.

That is what you will get when you "cover everyone living in California, including those without legal immigration status."

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. My wife works in medicine...she can hardly stand it anymore because of all of the unethical shortcuts LOTS of doctors and dentists are making so they can get you in and out...the stories I hear almost every night when she gets home is scary...and I mean...SCARY. Herding you thru like cattle is the only way they can make money when you depend on the government to pay you for services.

Mark
 
There are plenty of doctors that support single payer to make it easier for them and then all are covered. But they are not business people, and most of them haven't a clue about supply and demand, and can't foresee the issues with repayment and rates of repayment when the government gets to dictate to you what you are going to get paid for the care that you provided.

I tell them, you can't sit down and say.. My office costs are this, my personal expenses for just keeping current, med school, dea, and other fee's just to be a doctor are this, my insurance is this. my labor is this.. Then you come to what you need to charge per patient per 10 minute window of time, just to make a penny.

Then the Government wants to tell you, I'm sorry, but this is all you get. What then??

It's obvious.. It becomes a cash only office and no insurance or single payer isn't accepted at the places that you used to go, and only places that have to cut corners and not give the care that you are used to are going to give you an appointment and then they will have to schedule multiple appointments to be able to make up the cost differences.

So, the net result is that those in the middle class get treated like the poor, and the poor get free, so they don't care about the service, and the rich go to a cash system and don't have to be seen at the same place as the public.

There are countless examples of this.

Anyone wants to tell you that single payer in the USA would be good, tell them to explain how the VA is doing so well then??
 
Reminds me of "We have to pass it before you can read it".
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