With President Trump now vowing to put forward a replacement for the Affordable Care Act in March, some California politicians and healthcare advocates are once again promoting the idea of a state-run “single-payer” system that operates like Medicare.
Backers say the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s promise to repeal Obamacare presents California with a chance to rethink how healthcare is delivered to its 39 million residents.
“Why wouldn’t we take this as an opportunity to create what we want in California?” Dr. Mitch Katz, head of L.A. County’s health department, said at a conference in December. He mentioned a single-payer system as a possible solution.
Other suggestions for how California can capitalize on the threat to Obamacare include creating a public option, a state-run health plan to sell on the state’s insurance exchange, and mimicking how Massachusetts provided universal healthcare.
And it is not as if California does not have reason for concern.
Courtesy of Vox:
Republican replacement plans for Obamacare would lead to significant declines in the number of Americans with health insurance coverage, according to an analysis presented Saturday at the National Governors Association and obtained by Vox.The analysis includes graphs on what the Republican plan to overhaul Obamacare’s tax credits, generally making them less generous, would do. They are based on the recent 19-page proposal that Republican leadership released about their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.
The report estimates what would happen in a hypothetical state with 300,000 people in the individual market that has also expanded Medicaid. In the individual market, enrollment would fall 30 percent and 90,000 people would become uninsured.
California has almost 39 million people, that means multiple millions would potentially lose their coverage.
By the way yesterday Trump said that "Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."
Actually EVERYBODY knew. Except Donald Trump apparently.TRUMP: “Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.” https://t.co/LFr422VHbq— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 27, 2017
And if he listened to those who know this (The Democrats.) he might understand that the best thing he could do would be to leave the Affordable Care Act in place and work to improve it.
Source http://ift.tt/2l88kRG
