The Senate Appropriations committee’s own budget analyst has estimated the cost to be $400 billion for just the first year, which is over twice the entire California State budget of $180 billion. SB 562’s sponsors have no clear plan for paying for single payer but have suggested new employer and employee taxes and income tax increases.  These taxes would be in addition to current Federal, State, local, municipal and property taxes that Californians pay.

Please see this press release from the California Association of Health Underwriters for more information.

https://bliscorp.egnyte.com/dl/6kk5OkKcvK

I was present in the Senate Chambers when this bill passed the Health Committee with a 5-2 party-line vote on April 26th. I was again present when the Appropriations Committee debated this bill on May 22nd.  But despite serious concerns raised by many of the committee members the bill passed with a 5-2 party-line vote.  It will now be voted on this week by the full Senate.

TO TAKE ACTION:

If you object to losing your right to Medicare, losing your employer plan, paying more taxes, losing your right to choose your doctor, your hospital and your insurance benefits please contact your State Senator to let him/her know. Click on the link below to find your State Senator and his/her contact information.  Then click on the name to reach their website to communicate your message: http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/

For your convenience, this is a letter template suitable for sending to your district Senator if you so choose:

https://bliscorp.egnyte.com/dl/9IOEU956MF

Phil Lee

www.health-insurance.com

925-284-2000

SB 562 is very bad for you, your family and the future of the State of California for many reasons:

• Single payer insurance will provide “one size fits all” insurance to all people living in California, including undocumented residents.  One plan will be offered to all Californians for cradle-to-grave health coverage.
• All Private Health Insurance will be prohibited.
• The plan benefits will be determined by an un-elected board of special interest appointees of the state government who will determine which benefits will be included and how much providers will be paid.  This will result in rationing health care and force doctors and hospitals to leave the state if they are not fairly compensated for their services.
• There will be no Medicare for Californians 65 and older. Seniors and the disabled who currently have Medicare, Advantage plans, Supplement plans and Part D plans will be dis-enrolled and enrolled on to the single payer plan.
• There will be no employer health insurance plans. Employers will no longer be able to attract the best employees in their fields because they cannot offer them benefits that are any better than the Single Payer plan.  If you work for a company that is located in many states, your employer will not be allowed to offer any plans in CA.
• There will be no Federal or State employee health insurance plans.
• There will be no union health insurance plans.
• There will be no Medi-Cal or Medicaid.
• All people living in California, whether legally or not, will have the same health plan.
• Doctors and hospitals will be paid for their services by the State of California, who will need to create a monstrous bureaucracy to process and pay claims.  Fraud, abuse and waste are a given.  Other government-run health plans such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration regularly suffer scandals in billing, payments and sub-standard care.
• State Senator Ricardo Lara, who is sponsoring SB 562, has not revealed how the state is going to pay for “free” health care for all.  Initial estimates are that the State of California would need an increase in current income tax of $350 billion for just the first year of the Single Payer plan. This amount equates to $9,200 for each man/woman/child in addition to what he or she is already paying in income tax.  A family of four would pay $37,000 more in income tax than they are currently paying.
• Sick people, low-income people and the undocumented from across the country would flock to California.  Healthy taxpayers would flee California.  The result would be long lines to wait for sub-standard health care with costly procedures such as heart and kidney transplants and life-saving drugs rationed or not included at all in the Single Payer plan.
• Senator Lara and his supporters have stated that California leads the rest of the country in innovative changes and now want to oppose Federal Government deliberations on changes to the health insurance market by being the first state to adopt the Single Payer system.  However, two other states, Colorado and Vermont, recently voted against Single Payer plans in their states due to the unrealistic tax burden it would put on its residents.

CALL TO ACTION:

If you object to losing your right to Medicare, losing your employer plan, being taxed an additional $9,200 per family member, losing your right to choose your doctor, your hospital and your insurance benefits, then please contact your State Senator to let him/her know.  Click on the link below to find your State Senator and his/her contact information.  Then click on the name to reach their website to communicate your message: http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/

Just say No On SB 562 to preserve your choice in health care and to keep California from declining into certain economic ruin.  Thank you for taking the time to read this email.