Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare • Hacker News Board

Re: Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare

#41

Post by old-gregg » Thu, Mar 09, 2017, 12:36 AM UTC

marcell wrote: post #27

I can't get over the cognitive dissonance of these two points: > (2) Californians, as individuals, employers, and taxpayers have experienced a rise in the cost of health care and health care coverage in recent years > (4) Individuals often find that they are deprived of affordable care and choice because of decisions by health benefit plans guided by the plan’s economic needs rather than consumers’ health care needs.…

Yes you can. As a 6th largest economy in the world [1] California can negotiate prices down by 50-60% to be comparable to Canada/UK. [2]

Besides, the existing state program (medi-cal) already covers over 1/3 of CA residents [3]. So it looks like if we lower the cost by 60% we can get pretty close to normal healthcare situation using the existing budget.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_between_U.S._states...

[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/03/26/21-gr...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medi-Cal

Re: Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare

#42

Post by darkstar999 » Thu, Mar 09, 2017, 12:36 AM UTC

wjossey wrote: post #30

I'm excited to see this show up on hacker news. As a Santa Monica resident, I'd gladly pay more in taxes for universal coverage. The only way that we are going to achieve federal universal coverage is via states paving the way. Just as "Romney care" was a predecessor to the ACA, so can healthy California pave the way for the US to join the rest of the modern world with guaranteed access.

Just curious why you would gladly pay more? Can you elaborate?

Re: Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare

#43

Post by 086421357909764 » Thu, Mar 09, 2017, 12:37 AM UTC

darkstar999 wrote: post #36

Joof wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worked for many other countries. Seems to be quite a bit cheaper for individuals and nations as well. Not sure if it will work on a state level though.

Only if CA can negotiate lower costs, especially pharmaceuticals.

and establish uniform pricing for services across the board

Re: Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare

#44

Post by tylersmith » Thu, Mar 09, 2017, 12:39 AM UTC

df3 wrote: post #5

A well-executed single-payer system would make California even more attractive for entrepreneurship and increase labor mobility for everyone. Life would be much easier if we could start companies or switch jobs without worrying about healthcare.

Even easier if people could just let others take care of _every_ whim. If there was a guaranteed income there wouldn't even be a need for entrepreneurship!

Re: Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare

#45

Post by goodells » Thu, Mar 09, 2017, 12:39 AM UTC

marcell wrote: post #27

I can't get over the cognitive dissonance of these two points: > (2) Californians, as individuals, employers, and taxpayers have experienced a rise in the cost of health care and health care coverage in recent years > (4) Individuals often find that they are deprived of affordable care and choice because of decisions by health benefit plans guided by the plan’s economic needs rather than consumers’ health care needs.…

In a single payer system, there wouldn't be an insurance company sitting between a patient and the medical provider, extracting rent. The middleman and associated overhead would not exist (or be centralized), which could make the market more efficient.

Re: Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare

#46

Post by AnimalMuppet » Thu, Mar 09, 2017, 12:40 AM UTC

marcell wrote: post #27

I can't get over the cognitive dissonance of these two points: > (2) Californians, as individuals, employers, and taxpayers have experienced a rise in the cost of health care and health care coverage in recent years > (4) Individuals often find that they are deprived of affordable care and choice because of decisions by health benefit plans guided by the plan’s economic needs rather than consumers’ health care needs.…

No, there's another option: Health care company profits could go down. (But I suspect that people who want both (2) and (4) overestimate how far they can go before they reach zero, at which point we quit having health care companies, and then we have no health care coverage...)

Re: Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare

#47

Post by darkstar999 » Thu, Mar 09, 2017, 12:40 AM UTC

086421357909764 wrote: post #43

darkstar999 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if CA can negotiate lower costs, especially pharmaceuticals.

and establish uniform pricing for services across the board

Not sure if that's totally fair, Califoria is very diverse. Rates that work in SF might not work in rural CA.

Re: Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare

#48

Post by ThomPete » Thu, Mar 09, 2017, 12:40 AM UTC

Here is the problem. How do you deal with illegal immigrants? At least in the current system there are ways for them to get treated, but in a single payer system?

Single-payer works great in countries were everyone have a ssn. Not sure its feasible in the US as much as i think it would be great.

Re: Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare

#49

Post by darkstar999 » Thu, Mar 09, 2017, 12:42 AM UTC

brutus1213 wrote: post #35

darkstar999 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so?

This will likely be funded from income tax. As a mid-30s person who earns a decent tech salary and has zero hope of buying a house in the decent parts of the SF Bay area, I think this is another case of taking from the young to feed the old. We should totally do this single-payer thing and pay for it via a wealth tax (that takes the current price of your home into account). Lets make it tiny .. say 0.5% a year.

> As a mid-30s person who earns a decent tech salary

... you can afford it. Moreso that others. You _are_ the wealth.

Re: Healthy California Act: proposal to make findings about single-payer healthcare

#50

Post by tylersmith » Thu, Mar 09, 2017, 12:42 AM UTC

darkstar999 wrote: post #42

wjossey wrote: post #30

I'm excited to see this show up on hacker news. As a Santa Monica resident, I'd gladly pay more in taxes for universal coverage. The only way that we are going to achieve federal universal coverage is via states paving the way. Just as "Romney care" was a predecessor to the ACA, so can healthy California pave the way for the US to join the rest of the modern world with guaranteed access.

Just curious why you would gladly pay more? Can you elaborate?

Because they can't afford the care they actually need and are trying to leech from others to extend their worthless (in a technical sense) life.