Killing Off the Private Option is the Fatal Flaw for SB 562

I understand that our progressive friends want single payer health care where 
government manages it all. However single payer is not all that glamorous when you 
read the ugly stories in Canada and the United Kingdom about their system. It was 
predicted that the Affordable Care Act was basically training wheels for
Single Payer 
because right now the system is ready to derail big time in the next few
years. Certain 
states are going to have NO insurance company as part of their health care exchanges 
because insurance companies are unwilling to partake in the government system no 
matter if it is federal or state managed. 

Enter SB 562, California˙s effort in having a single payer health care
system. Co-written 
by Senators Lara and Atkins it is called the ˙Healthy California Act˙,
where the authors 
strive to improve access to health care. I agree that something should be done when 
insurance premiums are approaching almost 10 thousand dollars for a family. However, 
the bad point of the bill is no private option. 

The health plans that people rely on will be shuddered thanks to this
legislation. Many 
people in California love Kaiser Pernamente due to it being the Mercedes
Benz of health 
care plans. With this new law, we will be forced into the government system
or if you 
are wealthy you would have to go out of state to pay cash for the health
care you need. 
The big fear of SB 562 is the reimbursement rates, I would expect to see a
health care 
provider shortage when doctors decide to either retire or move out of
California. Medi-
Cal currently has a provider shortage due to reimbursement rates. The
Democratic Party 
would likely need to have programs where if one gets educated at the UC
medical school 
they would be required to take care of patients in the state program for a decade in 
exchange for a modest salary. 

I think the authors of SB 562 need to go back to the drawing board and come
up with an 
idea like Medicare Part C and D and the Australian health care system. Government 
cannot do it all despite many believing it can. Public option can coexist
with a Private 
option. 

Fiscally, even if we are paying a 9% tax to help fund the program, will it
be sustainable? 
States such as Vermont crashed and burn when they tried single payer. The California 
Public Employee Retirement System also has funding shortfalls as well. I am
skeptical of 
California politicians managing money if I trusted Bernie Madoff to manage
my portfolio. 

Also, the new California tax is regressive when it comes to low income workers. One 
would be paying the unsubsidized price before ACA subsidies which would take away 
money that one may need for their car payment or groceries. Democrats are
criticizing 
Trump for doing similar things. 

Due to the Super Majority this bill is likely to pass no matter if you like
it or not to infer 
from a quote from Gavin Newsom when he was speaking how equal marriage rights was 
inevitable. However, this bill needs to go back to the drawing board. We
need to come 
up with solutions to improve the supply of medical providers, how would the authors 
deal with the issue of big health care networks controlled by the private
sector deciding 
to shut down where private hospitals such as Kaiser Pernamente will fold in
California, 
how would the authors make the payroll tax equitable to low income workers.
 
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