This article was originally posted in Vista Press
Written by Armen Kurdian
This week, the CA Assembly is debating Assembly Bill 1400 to establish a government takeover of Californian’s healthcare, called “CalCare,” for everyone living within the state. It is coupled with the biggest statewide tax hike in our nation’s history. New taxes summing over $160B per year would be imposed upon most businesses and working families. Small businesses would see their taxes go up tens of thousands of dollars per year in the form of payroll, income, and excise taxes. Employer and individual tax deductions are eliminated. The average family of four would see their taxes go up by at least $4,000 / year.
Under this new “CalCare”, all of your health care choices, coverages, options, get taken out of your hands. Senior citizens will lose their Medicare coverage but still have to pay new taxes. A state bureaucracy will now make all of your healthcare decisions, governed by a set of political appointees. This program is estimated to cost up to $391B / year.
Strongly opposed by 65% of Californians, free health care may sound like a great idea until all your medical care is governed by bureaucrats. Everyone should have access to medical care when they need it, but this potentially disastrous implementation of a desirable outcome is absolutely the wrong way to go.
San Diego is home to the best doctors, cutting-edge medical technologies, and some of the most innovative biopharma companies in the world. Under government-run healthcare, consumers like you and me lose the ability to choose the care that is right for us. Relatedly, the state doesn’t have incentive to keep costs down. We have seen here in San Diego County the broken promises of the SANDAG governing board regarding work they promised on the Highway 78 corridor and other roads & highways over the last 14 years, but never delivered. Why would Californians trust their state government—which repeatedly acts counter to the will of its citizens—any more?
Find your Assembly Representative at https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/ to express your opposition. We should be looking for ways to Increase competition, test out concepts such as outcome-based healthcare where consumers are rewarded for staying healthy, increase portability, and expand health and flexible savings accounts. California has robust safety nets for those truly in need. We need to put medical choices in the hands of everyday Californians. AB1400 will, in one fell swoop, smack all that power from our hands.
