California Bill Assists Their Impending Financial Doom

In a previous post, I wrote about the many disadvantages of a universal health care system. A universal health care system is one that is funded and provided by the government. Well, it looks like the Democrats in California may get there wish because they have recently passed a bill that will provide just that.

In an article published by the San Francisco Chronicle, the California bill, passed in the Assembly on a 43-30 vote, will eliminate the private health care system in California altogether if Governor Schwarzenegger signs it.

It goes without saying that eliminating privatized insurance in California will either force health insurance companies to shut their doors, or force them to terminate those services once offered to the public. That is a major tax base that will disappear not to mention the amount of newly unemployed individuals that will accrue. It does not take a rocket scientist or economics professor to see that there will be less tax money paid into the California governmental system while more money will be needed to fund the universal care system. Where are they going to get the funds to create this new system?

In the past few years California has been struggling to 'boost' it's economy. First, the state houses more illegal immigrants than any other in the U.S. at a frightening cost of $10.5 Billion annually. Second, they have passed clean air laws that have not faired well with companies looking to move to California. In fact, these laws have encouraged some manufacturers to "take a hike". Besides this and more, California already has a health care program for those not able to easily receive health care services. The program is called Medi-Cal and its costing California billions.

An article written in the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal states that in 2005, Medi-Cal costs taxpayers $12 billion annually from its general fund. In 2003, five percent of free enrollees incurred 60% of all Medi-Cal's expenses. It is estimated that in 2015, the program's annual costs will rise to $29 billion annually. It is appalling to consider the effects that publicly funding all Californians will have on their economy.

At least California, being the "progressive" state that they are, may be the first to lead the way for either disaster or success. I predict they'll fail.

Governmental Health Care = Democrat Bowel Movement

Throughout the blogosphere, especially amongst lefty and Democratic sites alike, there has been a strong movement advocating government sponsored health care programs. The main idea is to implement a state ran health care system much like what exists in Canada today. I call this drive the Democrat bowel movement because thinking about how it would be implemented makes me queasy.

Democrats strongly believe that all United States citizens should be afforded the opportunity to receive health care services. That statement in itself is a noble cause. The problem is that they want the government to administer/run the program which doesn't make any sense.

First, here is a party that has consistently bashed the government from how it handled the war in Iraq to how it handled the Katrina disaster. Yet, they conveniently would like the very same government to handle the entire United State's health care system. Remember, the Katrina hurricane affected Lousiana, Mississippi, and a couple of other surrounding regions. According to the Democratic party, our government wasn't equipped enough to handle these few states. Yet, it is inconceivable how they think the government could handle medical services in all 50 states.

One may argue that the blame belongs to the fact that the Bush administration and Republicans, not the Democrats, mishandled Katrina and the Iraq war; and that if it would've been a Democratically lead administration, those missions would've been handled properly. That's an invalid argument on many levels. The least that can be said to that is: the Democrats currently hold 44% of the senate seats so they are almost 50% responsible for Katrina and the Iraq war (That's if you believe the Iraq war is a failure which it is not) and would therefore be 50% irresponsible handling health care.

The second consideration in regards to the lefty view is that Canada's health care system is ran by the government and it sucks! What makes the dems think that America could do any better? Canada has been running its health care system for years and it does just the opposite of what the dems would desire. In Canada, people aren't explicitly left without care, they're implicitly left without care because the system is so bad, many people who need care don't visit with health care professionals as they should.

One question to ask is, do people want to go to a doctor that gets:
a.) Paid by the government at $60,000 per year
or
b.) Paid by insurance/Medicaid/out-of-pocket at $150,000 per year?

Canada's system, because it pays its doctors, doesn't attract the most qualified professionals either. People who have the intellectual ability and talent to be a doctor don't always seek that profession because the pay isn't as gratifying as it is in other fields. Do people want a doctor with a 2.5 GPA who could save 70% of his/her patients' lives or a doctor that gets a 3.0 or better that can save 85% of their patients?

If criticizing another's view, I always try to aim at finding a solution to be fair (unlike my counterparts). So it should be fair for me to name a solution at getting available health care in our country. It's called getting a freaking job! All kidding aside, assisting people who don't have health care to acquire a job would eliminate some but not all of the problem. If anything, there could be a moderate system in place where the needy get grants to help them receive the health care they need but many states already have something like that in place.

Ultimately, there is no perfect solution. Either solution will deny an individual the opportunity to receive health care. The best solution however, is the one that provides the best service to the most people. You decide!