Do You Support Healthcare for All Californians?

I don't think it is the government's job to provide health care. If you want health care, you pay for it. If I don't want health care, I pay my bills.
LBC

Health care is expensive, yes. Who is going to pay ultimately for that healthcare for all? Your state is broke. Our state is heading there. This bubble cannot swell on forever. The states will not be able to carry on their backs this cost of healthcare for all. The federal government will not support the states because it is over the budget already. Healthcare is 37% GDP already. You can sign whatever petitions you want - it is not going to happen.
To those who think healthcare is the basic human right - what tree did you fall from? Your rights end right where your ability to pay for them stops. If you stop paying, hospitals will close, doctors will move, nurses will not work for free and there would be no way to pay for supplies. Then you can stand there and demand you healthcare.
I hope that the people and the government will find some solutions to reduce costs, starting with reforming legal system that is out of control and costing doctors and hospitals tons of money.
Too many unsupported rights for too many people never worked. Rights balanced with responsibilities - is the formula for success.

This may not be a popular answer, BUT who would you like to pay for your healthcare? The state of California seems to be broke these days. I agree, access to healthcare is important. But you have choices-you husband can choose to work for a different company that provides different affordable benefits or you can arrange your budget to pay for the healthcare-spend less on something else. Check out his benefits package - there may be several plans offered with varying coverage/costs and deductibles. There may be a different plan they offer that would fit into your budget. I know it is important to stay home with your kids, but You could also get a job that provides healthcare benefits.

I have to agree that you should pay for healthcare if work offers it. My husband pay out 190$ every 2 weeks to cover us and that will go up to 210$ once my baby is born in Feb. It's alot but we cut back on stuff to afford it. Like other posters said nothing is free and someone has to pay for it and that usually is the taxpayers...sorry but my family pays enough for our healthcare...

I believe in health care for all human beings. And I absolutely believe we have the resources in this rich country to provide that. (We may have an unhealthy economy right now, be we are still a rich country compared to most of rest of the world.)

For those of you who don't agree, which human beings would you like not to get health care? Who chooses? On what factors are these decisions made - age, wealth, income, sickness, disability, estimated time left to live, perceived value to society, gender, race, nation of origin? What kind of society do we want to create, that we are willing to judge our fellow human beings as to who's health and life matters and who's does not?

I definitely think it is a bad idea. My husband and I are barely getting by with what he makes and we can still afford to pay our own coverage. I don't think I, or anyone else, should be paying anyone else's coverage but my own. We are beyond broke.

Um.. Yeah, sure. Good luck with that in a state with no money.

There's no reason why we all can't have health care except all the people who make money on the wasting that goes on right now will fight big time to keep things just the way they are.
We spend more money on health care than any one else on the planet and get so much less bang for the buck.
If done right, we could spend half what we spend now and have everyone covered (not with health insurance but with actual health care).
But people don't want to focus on that.
They want to say efficiency in health care will cost more than the bureaucratic mess we have now - they don't think than an efficient system would control out-of-control costs/pricing.
Businesses might get behind the idea if health care was not employment based - it's a pain for them to deal with it and they'd be glad to be rid of it.
A single payer system would be like the whole country is the biggest bargaining group possible.
We use to be a country that did things first - in innovative ways - that the rest of the world could look at and imitate.
On this - we're dead last to figure it out and too pig headed/stubborn to get it done.

Oregon already has this plan. I believe our country is the most backwards of all the developed countries. Corporations have more rights than living breathing human beings.

It looks good on paper. However, California's broke, and in reality, I don't see this working. Wouldn't it be great if all of our citizens could get quality, affordable medical insurance? If it could be done, we'd already be doing it.

And, it's not just families with SAHM's going without, it's households with 2 working parents, who can't afford the coverage, or whose employers no longer offer medical insurance. The employer doesn't set the costs for medical premiums, so you can't blame them. They have to turn a profit & still pay their employees, so benefits always suffer.

The huge chunk that they would take out of his paycheck is probably only 25 to 40% of the cost of their health care plan. Health care is one of the big reasons that it is hard for American companies to compete globally. I simply cannot blame American business for the problem, they are victims not creators of the problem. I think we are being lied to about the real reasons that we don't have universal coverage in America. Go to open secrets.org and look at who is spending the most on lobby groups and you will see it's not insurance companies, it's pharmaceutical companies and health care providers. Certainly one thing that makes sense about the link that you included is the cost of "administration" in health care, which is huge. But we are reluctant to do anything nationally about malpractice costs. We are reluctant to create uniformity among health plans and health plan rules. We are reluctant to negotiate with providers to lower Medicare rates. We are reluctant to cut back on Medicare Part D (prescriptions) because seniors are a huge voting block and pharmaceutical companies are the #1 biggest spenders in lobby groups. We are reluctant to address end of life care issues. And no one wants to pull back the covers and deal with it, they just want to spew out political rhetoric about health care being a human right or, on the other side, the government rationing care. When I see our president telling the American people about the "profits of big insurance companies" feeding political beliefs that are truly misconceptions or when I see GOP candidates self righteously misinterpreting medical ethics discussions as "rationing" just to stir the political pot, I am sickened. Why don't they just tell us the truth and let us vote on it? Without reform in government, it's going to be difficult to do anything except add bandaids.

HI!

I believe healthcare is a basic HUMAN right (not just for californians!! LOL)

I have to agree with Laeh...this nation is backwards...

Thank god my ex has covered my children for health insurance...he has been court ordered to cover me, but hasn't...**sigh** But then, he is consistently short on child support.

Wonder often what will happen to the kids if something happens to me...makes my blood pressure go up just thinking on it!!

Michele/cat

****ETA****

Perhaps our legislators could give up THEIR remarkably wonderful health care program they have voted for themselves...as well as THEIR lifetime retirement...and THAT could go toward making a 'dent' in paying for some kind of universal/minimal health coverage for the MANY living from paycheck to paycheck (or no paycheck).

Maybe *we* should run for office while the benefits of the job are still so very generous...

People who deserve FREE healthcare:

Indigent people
Children
Elderly
Troops that are hurt; physically or mentally

People who do NOT deserve free healthcare:

Mentally & physically able bodied people
Politicians

And please remember NOTHING IS FREE, someone has to pay for it, whether it's you, me, your family, your neighbor, your friends, your hairstylist, your mailman, your bank teller, your pizza delivery guy, OR US HERE ON MAMAPEDIA, etc

Best wishes

Illegal immigrants get free healthcare already!! in any state, If they dont earn a lot of money they get charity care at Clinics, the ER or hospital. And yes our taxes are paying for it already. I think it would save money if they had healthcare and went to a doctor regularly. If those above the income level for free clinics get very ill we will end up paying for their bills one way or another. wouldnt it make more sense to provide more preventive healthcare?? Ask people who live in Canada, they love their healthcare system. are they going broke?

Well I briefly read through it and it seems like a good thing. Anybody who lives in the state of California qualifies. This means wealthy people as well as poor. I like this because it takes away the incentive to "stay poor" so you don't loose your insurance.

What is covered, no longer depends on your employer. Which could be a good thing. Most employers have cut what their plans cover in an attempt to curb costs.

Premiums are no longer employer based as well. Your premiums are based on a percentage of your income. This sucks for wealthier people but considering 1/3 of Americans are now below the poverty line it should help those struggling to get back on their feet.

Absolutely I support healthcare for all! I come from a pro-Socialist background, and I believe in taxes to support social programs. I cannot understand why Americans have such a difficult time understanding that it's for everyone. Yes, someone has to pay for it, but if everyone pays their fair share (based on their income and assets) then the entire society benefits. Believe me, the rich will remain rich. The poor and impoverished need the help and I am in favor of more aid than just healthcare.

I could go on about my belief in the philosophy of our interconnectedness and that a successful society means that all are cared for, but I'll just leave it that I have of course signed that petition and many others. Our country has grown too large and populated to return to the days of each family only taking care of its own and driving off the revenoors when they come to collect (couldn't resist ~ I read something recently that helped me to finally understand that way of thinking and how impossible it is in the modern world).

Thanks for asking & thanks for sharing the link.