No on SB562

SB 562 would establish a state-run single-payer health care system. All Californians will
lose their current health plans, to be replaced by government run health care, with benefits yet
appointees yet to be identified, to include provisions yet to be named – all paid for by a
doubling of your annual tax bill.
SB 562 forces California to hand over at least $179 billion in new state taxes to pay for
a government run health care system. This new $9,200 per person tax would be on top of every
Californian’s current tax bill. Early cost estimates of a single payer measure reach as high as
$350 billion in new taxes – a doubling of the annual state budget. At a time when California has
recovered somewhat from the Great Recession, and residents were just mandated to pay $69
billion in higher taxes for long-neglected education, water and transportation infrastructure
repairs and upgrades, SB 562 will harm residents with a limitless price tag and no guarantee of
better health care for anyone.
Here is why:
✜ Single-payer abolishes private health insurance in California. Today, citizens know what their plan
covers – and what it doesn’t. There are no specifics about what single-payer would cover, and
those decisions are left to a government-run entity with political appointees.
✜ Single-payer mandates a government-run monopoly on all health care services in California. It
eliminates private insurance, Medi-Cal, Medicare, Covered California, and the valuable advocacy
services of insurance professionals and advisors.
✜ By eliminating employer paid health coverage, single-payer shifts health care costs to employees.
✜ Single-payer will increase your personal tax bill by almost $9,200 per person the first year it is in
effect, and go higher each year. A $179 billion tax increase would essentially DOUBLE the size of
the current state budget.
✜ A single-payer system like this makes California less attractive to doctors and health care providers.
Our best providers would leave the state and less attractive for new providers to practice in California.
✜ Single-payer puts 18% of California’s workforce on the unemployment line. By giving Californians
the highest state taxes in America, business will be forced to leave the state, making California a
less attractive place to do business.
✜ While single-payer plans offer all citizens some kind of health care coverage, they can not guarantee
access to medical care.
✜ Single-payer inevitably control costs by rationing health care. Citizens in countries with single-payer
models often wait months to see a doctor or specialist or to receive much-needed medical treatment.
✜ Single-payer holds down costs by having one centralized government bureaucracy make all
decisions with regard to health care services and prices. Single-payer means limited choices for
consumers, discourages creativity, efficiency, quality, innovation and advancements in medical care.
✜ In government-run health care systems there is never enough money to provide timely care and the
latest technology. That’s because health care funds have to compete with other claims on government
funds, such as education, welfare, water and transportation infrastructure.
✜ Single-payer initiatives have failed in every state because the approach is not supported by most
citizens. Californians want the legislature to focus on positive changes to reduce the cost of health care
and health insurance in a public/private partnership.