That Was Close

With the Governor's promised veto of SB 840, Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl's plan to socialize health care in California, we the people have dodged a very big bullet. Under SB 840, a huge new bureaucracy would be formed, which would control all aspects of health care, including premiums, benefits, and payments to health care providers. To say this is not socialized medicine is simply a lie.

Equally a lie is her statement that her plan would take "the place of all premiums, copays and deductibles we now pay." First of all, we would be paying premiums, we'd just be throwing our money into the black hole of government. Secondly, Section 140302(b)(11) of SB 840 specifically provides for the "imposition of copayments or deductibles."

Also provided for, in the event of a "need for statewide cost control measures" are:

- "changes in the delivery of health care services"

- "postponement of introduction of new benefits or benefit improvements"

- "a temporary decrease in benefits" (no definition of temporary included)

- "adjustments of health care provider payments"

- adjustments on the reimbursement of health insurance system managerial employees and upper level health system managers"

- "limitations on the reimbursement budgets of health system providers and upper level managers whose compensation is determined by the Health Insurance System Payment Board"

- and on and on it goes. We'll keep paying more and getting less.

Doctors are free to leave the state, which will do nothing to improve the delivery of health care. We can't force other states or countries to accept our socialized medicine. What if you go out of state and get in an accident?

Sheila Kuehl is an idiot. So is every single member of the California Legislature who voted in favor of this, which is a majority.

We are in such trouble when a dimocrat regains the governor's mansion. Schwarzenegger may be a RINO, but he's a damn sight better than a full-fledged dimocrat.