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California Senate passes universal health care bill

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Re: California Senate passes universal health care bill

#5
post #3

The bill does not include detailed language about how the state would come up with hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for health care coverage for nearly 40 million residents. Perhaps they expect to go bankrupt and let the rest of the country bail them out?

You mean the red states that California have been subsidizing to help us out?

Re: California Senate passes universal health care bill

#6
post #2

$400B a year with no way to pay for it.

Instead of everyone paying insurance premiums, they pay through taxes. And no need to argue: almost every other first world country provides universal healthcare funded by taxes. It's both financially possible and prudent.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_unive...

Re: California Senate passes universal health care bill

#7
post #3

The bill does not include detailed language about how the state would come up with hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for health care coverage for nearly 40 million residents. Perhaps they expect to go bankrupt and let the rest of the country bail them out?

Turnabout is fair play.

Re: California Senate passes universal health care bill

#8
post #2

$400B a year with no way to pay for it.

Apparently federal, state, and local government are already paying $200 billion for health care, and employers and individuals already pay $150 billion in premiums. Redirect that to taxes and you've got more than the $331 billion estimate needed.

Re: California Senate passes universal health care bill

#9
post #3

The bill does not include detailed language about how the state would come up with hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for health care coverage for nearly 40 million residents. Perhaps they expect to go bankrupt and let the rest of the country bail them out?

> Perhaps they expect to go bankrupt and let the rest of the country bail them out?

No, like most states (and unlike the federal government) California has a Constitutional requirement for a balanced operating budget with limited exceptions, and so (even if authorized by legislation) a funding mechanism would have to be passed for this to actually be implemented.

What they expect is that the Assembly will amend and adopt a funding mechanism if it passes the bill (which will definitely send the bill back to the Senate and almost certainly require either a 2/3 vote or a referral to the electorate, possibly both, fot a couple of reasons). This is a step toward a real single payer law, but it is not one.

Re: California Senate passes universal health care bill

#10
post #2

$400B a year with no way to pay for it.

Instead of everyone paying insurance premiums, they pay through taxes. And no need to argue: almost every other first world country provides universal healthcare funded by taxes. It's both financially possible and prudent. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_unive...

> And no need to argue: almost every other first world country provides universal healthcare funded by taxes.

Almost every other developed country provides universal healthcare, but there's a mix of systems and all-public systems are not overwhelmingly dominant. Mandated-purchase with public safety net programs are not uncommon.

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