Assemblymember Bill Emmerson On Perils Of Government-Run Health Care Scheme
Posted by: SB Insider | 11/16/2007 11:13 AM
Posted this morning as the special guest commentary on public affairs website Flashreport is an opinion authored by Republican San Bernardino County Assemblymember Bill Emmerson on the Legislative Democratic health care proposal. Assemblymember Emmerson, who in addition to his stellar career in elected office, is also a health care professional.
In the State Legislature, Assemblymember Emmerson serves as an important member of the Assembly Republicans' Health Care task Force.
Here is an excerpt from Emmerson's insightful op-ed, which can also be found in its entirety here:
This week, Democrats on the Assembly Health Committee showed they weren't interested in acting responsibly to solve California's health care challenges by rushing through a $14 billion big government care health care scheme on a party-line vote during Wednesday's hearing.
Listening to the testimony in the hearing, it's clear they are more interested in political stunts than real health care solutions. Many serious issues brought up by Republicans were dismissed by Democrats with little more than empty rhetoric.
When asked how they plan to keep costs under control, they offered no real answers. In fact, the Democrat plan has no real cost containment measures at all, and hides the true cost of government health care. The mandates in their plan will actually lead to higher health care costs...Voters have rejected tax increases time and time again, most recently last November with Proposition 86, which would have increased taxes to pay for expanded health care services. What makes them think this time will be any different?
This is why many sports ban the use of performance enhancing drugs. Another form of doping is blood...
I'm glad to see Emmerson pushing Democrats on containing costs and limiting the role of government. This big and fast reform plan worries me as well.
Yet I encourage both parties to at least reach agreement that children deserve health insurance.
We don't ask that children go to school based on whether their parents have an employer who provides them that benefit. Why we continue to do this with healthcare insurance with children puzzles me especially when the private sector (employers - large and small) are screaming they can't afford to provide health insurance to their employees/children. I believe California now ranks below the national avg. with regard to % of employers providing their employees with health insurance.