Today we are pleased to offer this guest commentary from FR Friend, State Senator George Runner. Runner is Chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus…
Nunez-Schwarzenegger health care bill: Empty promises
By Senator George Runner
Despite all of the promises from Speaker Fabian Nunez and Governor Schwarzenegger about their “universal” health care proposal, the fact is very few Californians will benefit but most of them will pay heavily. And that’s why it won’t past muster with voters in November 2008
The truth is, more than 30 million Californians already have health care coverage through their employers or as a retirement benefit through Medicare or the Veterans Administration. Poor and disabled Californians receive coverage through Medi-Cal, Medicare, Healthy Families or other government programs.
A recent Field Poll confirms that most Californians are insured and worry the most about the rising costs of health care premiums, hospital fees and prescription drugs. The poll also found that the majority of Californians are concerned about limited access to quality physicians and healthcare facilities, and long waits for treatment and care.
Does the Nunez-Schwarzenegger bill (Assembly Bill X1 1) address these issues?
Not even close.
Their proposal establishes a government-run agency to provide taxpayer subsidized health care for the uninsured. In other words, the Sacramento politicians who have mismanaged the state’s budget into a $14 billion deficit now want to manage your health care and it’s going to cost you plenty.
ABX1 1 focuses on just one element of the health care problem – the uninsured, including illegal aliens – than to the majority of us in the state who will pay the bill.
Can you imagine the mass migration from nearby state that such a plan would create? The additional millions of people would only worsen the existing shortages of doctors, nurses, and hospitals. Waits will be longer (if that is possible) and treatment will be delayed, reducing both access to care and its overall quality.
What’s more, the proposal does not tackle the rising costs of health care. The Democrats argue that with everyone insured, hospitals will experience fewer financial losses, resulting in rate reductions. However, this plan will increase the overall demand for health care without a corresponding increase in supply. Basic economics tells us that if demand significantly increases while supply remains the same, prices will go up significantly.
Speaker Nunez and the Governor’s Administration have already filed an initiative to ask voters for $9 billion in new hospital fees and tobacco taxes to pay for the health proposal. The new fees will be passed onto patients, and a business tax on employees that will be passed on to consumers.
This tab becomes even more alarming when you consider that the $9 billion in new taxes and fees proposed by the initiative will only partially cover the $14 billion price tag of the Nunez health plan, with the remaining $5 billion supposedly coming from questionable sources such as new federal money and other assessments.
If that money does not arrive, some form of additional tax increase will be necessary to pay for the health care of a select few, while everyone else’s care declines.
So, if most Californians receive no additional benefits, health care costs increase, delays in seeing your doctor are longer, and the quality of care becomes worse, why would voters approve this proposal?
What Californians need and deserve is true health care reform that addresses real problems – lack of access, affordability and choice. Unfortunately, the Nunez-Schwarzenegger scheme is an empty promise that simply costs too much and benefits too few.
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