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

leginfo.legislature.ca.gov

101–110 of 468 posts

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

#101
post #68

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.

By giving them healthcare? There aren't actually a large number of illegal immigrants sitting around contributing nothing to the CA economy.

its not that easy. Once you have a single payer system suddenly you need to follow a budget. You now have to put limits on how many can be treated, for what, what kind of treatments and machines you have budgets for. Thats the thing with healtcare you can never spent enough on it and that alone will affect the willingness to pay for others.

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

#102
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.…

I heard this described as the "cost disease" issue (https://slatestarcodex.com/2017/02/09/considerations-on-cost...).

HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13613687

But also: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=cost%20disease

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

#103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very new to the single-payer idea, but Vermont rates 49th for population in the US, California ranks 1st. I thought one of the strengths of a single-payer system was to leverage the power of large numbers to help drive costs down. Would this not make it more viable?

Vermont is one of the poorest states in the nation as well, while California's economy is one of the biggest in the world.

In what way is Vermont one of the poorest states?

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

#104
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!

the interesting thing to me is why didn't CA make these moves under Obama if they thought they had such a better plan for healthcare... either way it's a win for DT

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

#106
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!

If anything, people would be more likely to start their own businesses if they had a guaranteed income, because it would mitigate the opportunity cost of quitting their day job.

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

#107
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

West coast single payer?

Doesn't seem like a hard sell to get Oregon & Washington on board, politically.

But it would require the consent of Congress, per the Constitution:

"No State shall, without the Consent of Congress... enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State."

I don't see that happening.

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

#108
post #32

Vermont tried this a few years ago, they had to cancel it since in the end it wasn't financially feasible [1]. CA is already dealing with severe budget issues [2][3], so while it sounds nice in theory I'm hesitant to believe the finances actually work out. [1] http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/single-payer-vermont-1... [2] http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-pension-crisis-davis-d... [3] http://www.cnbc.com/201…

I'm very new to the single-payer idea, but Vermont rates 49th for population in the US, California ranks 1st. I thought one of the strengths of a single-payer system was to leverage the power of large numbers to help drive costs down. Would this not make it more viable?

We even know California's population is large enough to support its own single-payer system since Canada has a slightly smaller population and a single payer system.

The trick is whether the transition to a single payer system is feasible. Both in terms of taxes, and existing organizations and incentives.

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

#109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Why are others entitled to his money?

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

#110

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.

Your workplace probably pays $500/month for your health insurance. If the employer has to stop paying that and you pay $500/month in taxes instead, it will be about break even anyway. Or even less, since I more forsee a %1-%2 tax increase vs. the current %4-6+ tax that is health insurance.
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