Government Monopoly Health Care in California
By: John R. Graham, The Democratic caucus just won't quit
6.7.2007
Despite hitting Gov. Schwarzenegger's veto last year, state senator Sheila Kuehl re-introduced SB-840, her bill to impose government monopoly health care in California, in February. Yesterday, it passed the Senate, 23-15, with only one Democrat, senator Correa, going offside. (When this monstrosity first came around, PRI published my analysis of its consequences as Deadly Solution.) So why does it return, despite a certain veto if it gets through the Assembly? Rumor has it that senator Kuehl and her allies just want to keep making noise until they can get a proposition on the ballot. What should be of greater concern to Gov. Schwarzenegger, who wants to avoid government monopoly health care, is that his January proposal for "universal" health care overlaps 80% to 90% with those put forward by Senate President pro tem Perata and Assembly Speaker Nuñez: mandatory private insurance, forbidding underwriting by insurers, more government bureaucracy, etc. Whoa Nellie! Senator Perata voted for senator Kuehl's government monopoly bill, and Speaker Nuñez is a sponsor in the Assembly. If these fellows really want government monopoly, single payer, health care, why have they sidled up to the governor with plans that purport to allow some (heavily regulated) private competition? Likely, it's because they know that any plan that they can get the governor to sign will result in higher costs, more regulation, more confusion & frustration among the population, and an erosion of the people's will to resist a complete government take-over of health care once Gov. Schwarzenegger is gone and the Dems have their own man in the executive office. SB-840 should make the governor wary of making any deal with Dem legislators in order to achieve a health reform "legacy". Government monopoly health care is a legacy the state can do without.
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