Today we are pleased to offer this Guest Commentary from Assemblyman Bill Emmerson:
Government-Run Health Care Is Bad For California
By Assemblyman Bill Emmerson
This week, Democrats on the Assembly Health Committee showed they weren’t interested in acting responsibly to solve California’s health care challenges by rushing through a $14 billion big government care health care scheme on a party-line vote during Wednesday’s hearing.
Listening to the testimony in the hearing, it’s clear they are more interested in political stunts than real health care solutions. Many serious issues brought up by Republicans were dismissed by Democrats with little more than empty rhetoric.
When asked how they plan to keep costs under control, they offered no real answers. In fact, the Democrat plan has no real cost containment measures at all, and hides the true cost of government health care. The mandates in their plan will actually lead to higher health care costs.
Democrats also never fully answered how they expect to pay for their plan. With no funding identified in the bill, they are depending upon passage of an initiative that has not yet been drafted, circulated, or approved by voters. Their initiative would likely impose a costly new jobs tax on nearly every California business, a new hospital tax and raise other taxes.
Requiring businesses to spend a mandated amount on health care for their workers or pay a new jobs tax is clearly illegal under the federal ERISA law, which forbids states from making these requirements on businesses. Even if passed by voters, their plan would still be illegal.
Voters have rejected tax increases time and time again, most recently last November with Proposition 86, which would have increased taxes to pay for expanded health care services. What makes them think this time will be any different?
They are also relying on more money from Washington to pay for their new government health care programs. California never receives its fair share from the federal government, and it is naïve to think we will get more now because it is for health care.
I also found it shocking that Democrats passed $14 billion in new spending on the very day the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst projected we are facing an $8 billion deficit and multi-billion deficits into the future.
But we don’t have to settle for a flawed plan crafted at the last minute that will lead much higher costs for every Californian and cause the deficit to spiral out of control.
I was pleased to present the Assembly Republican health care plan in Assembly Bill 8x (Villines) before the Health Committee this week. Our plan includes several reforms that will improve health care for you and your family – without raising taxes, increasing the deficit, hurting the economy or threatening jobs.
Our plan is the only one that will actually lower medical costs by informing consumers of the real costs of health care and encouraging them to shop around for the best price for care. We would empower you to make your own medical decisions, and make health care more affordable and accessible for you and your family.
I was disappointed to see Democrats reject our common-sense reform plan during Wednesday’s hearing with little debate. Californians deserve better.
Taking the time to reform health care the right way is much more important than rushing through a flawed plan just for the sake of saying we passed something. We will continue to fight hard to give every Californian access to affordable, quality health care, while rejecting tax increases or new government programs we cannot afford.
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Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, is a member of the Assembly Health Committee and represents the 63rd Assembly District in the California Legislature.
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