Subj : My essay on the California Single Payer Bill
To   : All
From : matt munson
Date : Sun Apr 30 2017 12:52 pm

Killing Off the Private Option is the Fatal Flaw for SB 562

I understand that our progressive friends want single payer health care where 
government manages it all. However single payer is not all that glamorous when 
you 
read the ugly stories in Canada and the United Kingdom about their system. It 
was 
predicted that the Affordable Care Act was basically training wheels for Single 
Payer 
because right now the system is ready to derail big time in the next few years. 
Certain 
states are going to have NO insurance company as part of their health care 
exchanges 
because insurance companies are unwilling to partake in the government system 
no 
matter if it is federal or state managed. 

Enter SB 562, California˙s effort in having a single payer health care system. 
Co-written 
by Senators Lara and Atkins it is called the ˙Healthy California Act˙, where 
the authors 
strive to improve access to health care. I agree that something should be done 
when 
insurance premiums are approaching almost 10 thousand dollars for a family. 
However, 
the bad point of the bill is no private option. 

The health plans that people rely on will be shuddered thanks to this 
legislation. Many 
people in California love Kaiser Pernamente due to it being the Mercedes Benz 
of health 
care plans. With this new law, we will be forced into the government system or 
if you 
are wealthy you would have to go out of state to pay cash for the health care 
you need. 
The big fear of SB 562 is the reimbursement rates, I would expect to see a 
health care 
provider shortage when doctors decide to either retire or move out of 
California. Medi-
Cal currently has a provider shortage due to reimbursement rates. The 
Democratic Party 
would likely need to have programs where if one gets educated at the UC medical 
school 
they would be required to take care of patients in the state program for a 
decade in 
exchange for a modest salary. 

I think the authors of SB 562 need to go back to the drawing board and come up 
with an 
idea like Medicare Part C and D and the Australian health care system. 
Government 
cannot do it all despite many believing it can. Public option can coexist with 
a Private 
option. 

Fiscally, even if we are paying a 9% tax to help fund the program, will it be 
sustainable? 
States such as Vermont crashed and burn when they tried single payer. The 
California 
Public Employee Retirement System also has funding shortfalls as well. I am 
skeptical of 
California politicians managing money if I trusted Bernie Madoff to manage my 
portfolio. 

Also, the new California tax is regressive when it comes to low income workers. 
One 
would be paying the unsubsidized price before ACA subsidies which would take 
away 
money that one may need for their car payment or groceries. Democrats are 
criticizing 
Trump for doing similar things. 

Due to the Super Majority this bill is likely to pass no matter if you like it 
or not to infer 
from a quote from Gavin Newsom when he was speaking how equal marriage rights 
was 
inevitable. However, this bill needs to go back to the drawing board. We need 
to come 
up with solutions to improve the supply of medical providers, how would the 
authors 
deal with the issue of big health care networks controlled by the private 
sector deciding 
to shut down where private hospitals such as Kaiser Pernamente will fold in 
California, 
how would the authors make the payroll tax equitable to low income workers.
 
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