Corona Chamber Position:
OPPOSE SB 840 creates a new government run,
multi-billion dollar socialized health care system built from a
yet to be specified tax increase, and on false premises and
failed attempts in past legislative sessions.
California voters have twice rejected a government-run health
care system – most recently in Proposition 72 in November 2004
and in another initiative in 1994. Focus groups and numerous
opinion polls on health care reform have reinforced that
California residents do not want a single payer government run
system. And more recently, the Senate voting to oppose the
Governor’s and Assembly Speaker’s proposed healthcare system, AB
X1 1.
While the goal of the legislation to provide health coverage for
all Californians is a laudable one, establishing a single payer
statewide bureaucracy is the wrong approach. We fundamentally
disagree with the two major premises of the bill: (1) government
systems are more efficient than private business, and (2) a
single payer system would be less costly than the current
private system.
It has been estimated by several sources that it would cost tens
of billions of dollars to operate the health care system
envisioned by this bill. There would also be billions of dollars
in start-up and administration costs related to the new agency.
These costs would be financed through new health care taxes on
consumers, employees and businesses in California. Thus, this
bill will result in a multi-billion-dollar-tax increase on
Californians.