California
Don’t make California health care worse than it already is
California legislators want the state to provide free health care to every resident, including undocumented immigrants.
Assembly Bill 2200 would make CalCare the state’s single-payer health-coverage provider. Under the act it would be illegal for any resident to pay a doctor privately for any medical treatment covered by CalCare.
To accomplish this goal, the legislators hope to convince the federal government to turn over all California Medicare funding so they can force every senior into the new system. Ditto for Medicaid. Employer-provided health insurance would also vanish. Instead of paying premiums and medical bills for private coverage, employers and their employees would have to pay taxes to CalCare
More taxes. Even if the federal government forced Medicare beneficiaries into CalCare, and CalCare collected all Medicaid and employer insurance payments, it would still need additional revenues to replace out-of-pocket spending by individuals.
In 2023 a bill to fund California single-payer care, ACA 11, was tabled. It would have imposed higher individual payroll taxes, higher income-tax rates with a top marginal tax rate of 18.05 percent, and taxes on gross business revenues. The Tax Foundation estimated it would increase taxes by $12,250 per household, doubling the current tax burden.
“Medicaid for all.” If everyone had to be in the same health plan, what would the system look like? Almost certainly it would spur a race to the bottom.
Wherever we look in the world, we find that government-run health care tries to control costs by squeezing the providers. In California, that would mean paying doctors and hospitals Medicaid rates – or perhaps even less.
According to Urban Institute researchers, California’s average Medicaid payments to providers are already significantly lower than in other states, amounting to about three-quarters of Medicare’s average payments.
And Medicare pays physicians and hospitals less than cost. Hospitals lost 12 percent on Medicare inpatients in 2022. Private payers currently pay 143 percent of Medicare rates for physician services and 189 percent for inpatient hospital care.
In 2017 only 48 percent of private California physicians accepted new Medicaid patients, so they wait months or years for appointments. Under CalCare, everyone would be waiting.
Rationing by waiting. During the COVID-19 pandemic, California met the surge in medical needs by paying traveling nurses as much as $5,000 a week to attract them from out of state. Under CalCare no hospital could afford to do that. On the contrary, doctors and nurses would leave the state seeking better pay (and lower taxes).
What would happen when demand for care surged (because it was free) and supply shrank (as the providers left for greener pastures)? The answer has almost always been: rationing by waiting.
According to the 2023 edition of the Fraser Institute’s Waiting Your Turn, Canadians on average wait more than 6 months from referral by a general practitioner to treatment by a specialist. Patients, including women showing symptoms of breast cancer, wait more than three months for an MRI scan.
Unable to get the primary care that Americans expect, Canadians frequently turn to overcrowded emergency rooms, where some die waiting for hospital beds.
England’s National Health Service (NHS) staffing and bed shortages are so bad that almost 14 percent of planned hospital surgeries are canceled on the day scheduled. Ten percent of canceled patients had suffered previous cancellations. Recently, a woman with a severe skin condition waited four years to see a dermatologist.
Covering up failure.
In the United States, Veterans Administration (VA) officials were caught covering up failure by falsifying waiting–list datain 2014. They were forced to reduce wait lists by paying for private care. Subsequent comparisons of VA and private surgical outcomes found no adverse quality differences as a result of using private services to obtain prompt care.
No exit. Eliminating private payment for covered services is such a bad idea that even Canada has given up on it. Canadians who had been enduring up to two years of pain waiting for hip surgery can now pay privately and wait only two months.
Bad as you may think California health care is now, passing CalCare will make it much, much worse.
John C. Goodman is a senior fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif., and president of the Goodman Institute. He is the author of A New Way to Care: Social Protections that Put Families First. Linda Gorman is the director of health care policy at the Independence Institute in Denver, Colorado.
California
Placer County crews rescue baby, family from home surrounded by raging river
PLACER COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) — Heavy rain and flooding impacted Northern California over the weekend, leading to rescues and evacuations throughout the region.
In Placer County, emergency crews carefully and slowly rescued a baby in a carrier, sliding it on a ladder over a rushing river.
The raging South Yuba River overtook the home, where nine people were rescued by the Truckee Fire Protection District.
As of Monday morning, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said an evacuation warning continues to be in effect for areas along the South Yuba River between Donner Pass Road and Cisco Road.
The storm is also swamping parts of Humboldt County, where the sheriff’s office shared pictures of goats stranded on someone’s doorstep.
This is near the Freshwater area – near Arcata, where high water forced several evacuations.
Crews arrived in jet skis to assist residents.
In Redding, one person died after major flooding.
Water took over streets and entire neighborhoods.
Several people had to be rescued, and Interstate 5 was also flooded, impacting holiday drivers.
LIVE UPDATES: Storms flood parts of NorCal with heavy rain as alerts expand to entire Bay Area
In Mendocino County, Willits received more than 6 inches of rain in 48 hours, flooding parks in the area.
With more rain in the forecast, rescue crews are prepared and people are reminded not to ever drive through standing water.
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California
Flash flooding in Northern California leads to soaked roads, water rescues and a death
REDDING, Calif. — Heavy rain and flash flooding soaked roads in northern California, leading to water rescues from vehicles and homes and at least one confirmed death, authorities said Monday.
In Redding, a city at the northern end of the Central Valley, one motorist died after calling 911 while trapped in their vehicle as it filled up with water, Mayor Mike Littau posted online Monday. Police said they received numerous calls for drivers stranded in flooded areas.
“Redding police officer swam out into the water, broke the windows and pulled victim to shore. CPR was done but the person did not live,” Littau wrote.
The weather in the coming days could be even more dangerous, he warned.
The National Weather Service expected more rain through the Christmas week as a series of atmospheric rivers was forecast to make its way through Northern California. A large swath of the Sacramento Valley and surrounding areas were under a flood watch through Friday.
The weather pattern was expected to intensify by midweek, which could lead to potential mudslides, rockslides and flooding of creeks and streams, forecasters warned. Up to 6 feet of snow was predicted for parts of the Sierra Nevada and winds could reach 55 mph in high elevations by Wednesday.
Southern California can also expect a soggy Christmas, with heavy rain in the forecast starting Tuesday evening. The National Weather Service urged people to make backup plans for holiday travel.
In Redding and surrounding areas, between 3 and 6 inches had fallen by Sunday night, the National Weather Service said.
As of Monday morning, local roads in Redding remained flooded as street crews worked to clear debris and tow out abandoned cars.
Dekoda Cruz waded in knee-deep muddy water to check on a friend’s flooded tire business, where the office was littered with a jumble of furniture and bobbing tires.
In the mountain pass area of Donner Summit, firefighters in Truckee extended a ladder to stranded residents at a house along the South Yuba River, the fire department posted online Sunday. No injuries were reported.
Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of water vapor that form over an ocean and flow through the sky, transporting moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes.
Earlier this month, stubborn atmospheric rivers that drenched Washington state with nearly 5 trillion gallons of rain in a week, threatening record flood levels, meteorologists said. That rainfall was supercharged by warm weather and air plus unusual weather conditions tracing back as far as a tropical cyclone in Indonesia.
California
Christmas storm still on track to hit Southern California. Here is when the heaviest rain arrives
Southern California is preparing for a powerful winter storm over the Christmas holiday, with forecasters warning of heavy rainfall, gusty winds, and potential flooding across the region.
According to the National Weather Service, the storm will bring an extended period of significant rainfall from Tuesday through Saturday, with totals expected to reach 4 to 8 inches across coastal and valley areas and 8 to 12 inches or more in the foothills and mountains by Saturday evening. Officials are urging residents to take necessary precautions, as flooding and debris flows could pose serious risks throughout the week.
The first, and most impactful, surge of rain is expected Tuesday night into Wednesday, when a moderate to strong atmospheric river will target the area. During this period, rainfall totals could reach 2 to 5 inches in coastal and valley regions and 5 to 10 inches in foothills and mountain areas, with hourly rates of 0.75 to 1.25 inches possible. The extended rainfall and intensity raise concerns about widespread urban flooding, mud and debris flows, and hazardous driving conditions, particularly during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.
A flood watch has been issued for all four counties from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday evening, and the National Weather Service recommends that residents begin taking protective actions now.
In addition to heavy rain, strong southerly winds are expected Tuesday and Wednesday, particularly in the mountains and foothills, with the potential to knock down trees and cause power outages. Officials are advising residents to avoid swollen creeks and rivers, refrain from unnecessary ocean activity, and take precautions such as parking vehicles away from tall trees during periods of strong wind.
Forecasters emphasized that the timing and intensity of the storm could still change and encouraged residents to monitor updates from the National Weather Service and KTLA’s meteorologists.
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