The Affordable Care Act's sixth sign-up season opens Thursday amid stabilizing premiums and more choice for consumers.
Nationally, average premiums are going up only by low single-digit percentages for 2019. In some states, and for some types of plans, premiums will decline. Fewer areas will see increases. Insurers also are expanding their participation.
Health care ranks among voters' top concerns going into next week's midterm elections.
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Raise taxes or ration health care? Why single-payer won't work in California. Yet
March 13, 2018 12:01 AM
Updated March 13, 2018 04:06 PM
Betty Doumas-Toto's health insurance premium rose nearly 48 percent in January, to $800 per month for an Affordable Care Act plan. She and her husband are both Los Angeles freelancers in the film industry and are draining their savings trying to keep up with their monthly payments.
A Pomona mother of five named Claudia, who is undocumented, can't get health insurance because of her immigration status. She's losing her hearing, but can't afford tests a doctor ordered because the costs are too high.
At an elder care home in the Sacramento suburbs, small business owners Harue Seki and her father Nori Seki say their 13 employees largely use Medi-Cal and rely on the emergency room when they get sick.
"We'd really like to be able to offer them health care ... but we can't afford it, Harue Seki said. "It makes it very difficult to compete as a small business owner."
The three women hope California will lead the nation in building the first universal, taxpayer-financed "single payer" health care system independent from the federal government. The state would take over the business of health care, cut out insurance companies and become the sole payer for all services, including primary care, surgeries and prescription drugs.
The idea is not new. Republican Gov. Earl Warren suggested a taxpayer-financed universal health care system in 1945. Voters considered and defeated a version of universal care in 2004. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a single-payer bill in 2006.
Now there is renewed interest, as proponents like Sen. Kamala Harris and gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom see single-payer as the solution to Republican-led efforts to unravel Obamacare. Evidence already shows the law is collapsing under the weight of soaring out-of-pocket costs and fewer affordable coverage options.
As a result, Americans are spending more of their income on medical care, delaying treatments or rationing medicine. Some are opting out of purchasing insurance altogether.
"What happens when our savings is gone? I get scared," Doumas-Toto said. "Democrats in California have a chance to do something about that. They need to be brave."
The idea is being strenuously pushed in the Legislature by the California Nurses Association, but has stalled amid
Democratic opposition in the Assembly and is most likely dead for the year. No one has made a detailed proposal with a financing plan. Gov. Jerry Brown is skeptical.
Tremendous uncertainty exists over how a state-based single-payer system would work. No matter how it's crafted, the costs would be steep.
Californians likely would face huge increases to their tax bills - both to pay for it initially and to cover inevitable cost increases in the future.
Creating such a system would cost $400 billion per year, more than double the state budget, according to an estimate by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office, one the nurses dispute.
entire article:
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article201541734.html
