States Will Be Hit Hard by Target Dems' Healthcare Bill
FYI, a version of the release below went out to the following districts: Dennis Cardoza (CA-18); Jim Costa (CA-20); Alan Grayson (FL-08); Ron Klein (FL-22); Jerry McNerney (CA-11); Loretta Sanchez (CA-47); and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20).
California Will Be Hit Hard by Loretta Sanchez’s Healthcare Bill
Stringent Regulations, New Costs Will Pose a Major Threat to California’s Vitality
Washington- As the Democrats’ shady backroom negotiations continue on healthcare, Californians can only hope that their interests as a state will be taken into consideration. The Democrats’ massive healthcare bill will not only pose a threat to the nation’s economy, but to numerous states’ economies, as well. Under the almost 2,000-page bill, new regulations and costs to states like California are lurking. With an already struggling economy, new financial burdens could prove devastating. According to California’s Governor, these new costs would be a “crushing new burden”:
“’California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was one of the few prominent Republicans to favor the Obama health care reform effort. Now he is calling on Congress to ‘rethink it.’” In a Dec. 22 letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he wrote, ‘When asked for my support, I was assured that federal legislation would not increase costs to California.’ Instead, a state with a $21 billion budget deficit is looking at what Schwarzenegger calls a ‘crushing new burden’ of at least $3 billion a year.’” (Kate Pickert and Karen Tumulty, “What Health Care Reform Means for the States,” Time, 1/07/2010)
Under Sanchez’s healthcare bill, an expanded Medicaid program would leave California to pick up a large portion of the resulting costs. With additional responsibilities placed on state insurance departments, states would be forced to hire additional staff – also adding to California’s financial burden:
“Both House and Senate bills would pay the states’ share of the cost of the new patients over the first two years and up to 95% after that. But states would still face an enormous new financial obligation. There is also the question of finding enough providers to care for 15 million new patients.”
“State legislatures may have to act to give state commissioners power to enforce the new rules, a process that could be complicated by political squabbling — not to mention the many Republican state legislators who have already said they plan to challenge the constitutionality of federal health reform. But even if states adopted the new federal rules, most state insurance departments would need to bulk up staff at a time when many are experiencing layoffs because of already strapped state budgets.” (Kate Pickert and Karen Tumulty, “What Health Care Reform Means for the States,” Time, 1/07/2010)
“At a time when middle-class Californians are struggling, Loretta Sanchez has no problem placing new financial burdens on her state’s economy,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Sanchez’s repeated rubber-stamping of her party bosses’ reckless spending spree is proof positive that she has grown far too comfortable in her role as another big-government, tax-hiking Washington Democrat. Asking Californians to pick up the check on another massive Democrat spending bill is not only insulting, but could result in financial peril for an already sluggish economy.”
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