MarieStevens

Love your post. Very insightful. Read 7. below. 350 billion saved with a single payer system. The website also has data to support this. The single payer system is pushing the insurance companies out of CA. The insurance will still be able to sell insurance for abroad travel or out of state travel. As for the funding of this bill it is using less money that what we are all currently paying for health care. As I recall a person goes to country who is a resident of CA but has no insurance can get care and the Bill of service goes back to the tax payers which is currently costing more for all of us. We keep in saying CA is in debt and they care but were re-making the system that is cheaper and more cost-effective. It just realigning health practices and focusing on preventative care. How is it going to affect the debt of CA when its actually fixing the current system so CA can save money. We waste so much on administration cost and their are studies and charts showing the disparities. The current system is putting us more into debt so this bill something that will reform it and help begin to decrease the deficit. Heres a link to an article on admin cost. 290 + billion dollars in 1999. We're paying the middle man this much. What happens when they are gone. Better care and more Profit for preventative and innovative health care. ( as you can see Profit here is a good thing as oppose to insurance profit based on denying care or raising premiums.) It not just insurance companies but in the bill it sets whole sale prices between pharmaceuticals. As for the Profit as a bad word, I dont mean people making items for profit in the medical field. It is the insurance companies and individuals that make profit through insurance, medicare in the wrong ways. Some people deny care based on their insurance and how much it will pay them instead of caring for the patient. In the bill health professionals are paid based on a holistic care not based on cost of test and etc. We pay so much admin cost because of insurance claims etc. Sometimes denying health care for a buck. We've seen the stories where the donut hole affects an elderly from having adequate supply of meds or the individual who needs help but has a pre-existing condition. We're correlating the bad practices of profit making by insurance companies and hospital doing certain test because it gives them more money for the hospital and their pockets. Heres some more info from PNHP website and this the link i got it from http://student.pnhp.org/content/background_fact_sheet_on_single.php: ----Moderators, is okay for me to cite the source? If not I'll be more than happy to edit this post. Background Fact Sheet on Single Payer 1. 47.0 million Americans were uninsured in 2006. (US Census Bureau) 2. More than 18,000 adults die from lack of coverage annually, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. 3. Tens of millions more are under-insured, lacking adequate coverage for drugs, long term care or mental health services. 4. After a lull in the mid 1990s, health care costs are again rising steeply. The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that, absent major reform, health spending will reach 17.7% of GDP by 2012. 5. Every other developed nation has some form of national health insurance, yet U.S. health spending is far higher-42% higher than in Switzerland, which has world's the second most expensive health care system, and 83% higher than in Canada (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Health Database, 2002). 6. At present, GOVERNMENT spending on health care in the U.S. is higher than TOTAL spending on health care in Canada. (Health Affairs, July/August 2002) 7. Single payer national health insurance would save at least $350 billion annually on paperwork and administration, enough to cover all of the uninsured and to upgrade coverage for Medicare enrollees and others who are under-insured. Studies by the Congressional Budget Office, the General Accounting Office and several private consulting firms all agree that NHI could assure universal, comprehensive coverage without increasing total health spending. 8. No other reform can slash administrative costs. Assertions that computerization or patchwork reforms will cut bureaucratic costs are not credible. Most health insurance claims are already computerized. Private insurers keep a big share of their premiums as overhead in every nation. Allowing them to continue playing a big role in health care guarantees high administrative costs. 9. Surveys show surprisingly strong support for single payer NHI, even among groups that have long opposed it. 59% of physicians now endorse single payer NHI, as do 40% of small business owners. Polls have long shown that a majority of Americans favor some form of NHI. (Annals of Internal Medicine, 2008) 10. The current economic downturn strengthens the case for NHI. States facing budget crises are cutting Medicaid and other social programs. They should instead use the vast administrative savings from a single payer program to implement universal coverage; NHI could pay for itself. NHI would also relieve the crisis for workers, unions and corporations grappling with skyrocketing premiums

CA has a horrible budget deficit related to over spending and improper wasting instead of cost-effectiveness. Single payer will help the budge because its implementing a system by integration. It has passed the budget commission in CA which has passed and sent to the governor. Change is scary and its also hard when your changing a profit driven system into a cost effective system where you realign it for the betterment of citizens. It will take time but the first step is passing this bill in CA. You can tell the viability and strength of a country if they take care of their citizens health. Money would be redistributed towards education and prevention. You may not see the out come of prevention because its hard to get concrete evidence but at our rate of chronic illnesses we need to prevent long-term illness with education and prevention.

this is true. everyone pays and no body is left out and the driving force for profit is insurance companies and pharmaceuticals. our health care is based on a business model! but should health care be based on profit? no. so now its time for change from many professions and individuals. advocacy and education is key in understanding and implementing sb810- ca bill

Massachusetts was not a single payer universal health care system. It was a mandate to have health insurance. Single payer Universal health care has passed twice and was veto by the governor. Its going to pass again this year but our governor will pass it again. Next year with a new governor it may actually pass. Check out CalifroniaOnecare.org They are pushing for a big ad campaign from a lot of people. Thank you for all yoour opinions and keep them coming. "We are the only industrialized country who has no "real" universal health care" Single payer provides care for everyone based on residency not on income. Everyone contributes through the usual taxes. We spend a lot individually for health care and SB 810 would actually be cheaper including the millions non-insureed in CA. It covers a broad range of care except cosmetics. Their is no Cap when their is a serious illness. Everything is regulated for a better patient care and affordability. If the Nation would reform health care universally, CA would be the place to do it. Here's the supporters to name a few! California Federation of Teachers Labor Task Force for Universal Healthcare California Church IMPACT California Faculty Association California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) California Nurses Association California Physicians’ Alliance California Retired Teachers Association California School Employees Association California Teachers Association Consumer Federation of California Dolores Huerta Foundation California Gray Panthers Health Care for All—California League of Women Voters – California Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club Single Payer NOW American Medical Student Association California Health Professional Student Alliance Progressive Democrats of America Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party Visión y Compromiso

Guaranteed Healthcare | We Don't Need Insurance, We Need Campaign for Guaranteed Healthcare for All Begins Anew in California with New Single Payer Bill

What do you all think of Single Payer HealthCare-Universal healthcare in CA?