The long-awaiting financial study accompanying SB 562, California's single payer legislation about to be voted on by the Senate, is out!

A press conference was held this morning, May 31st, in Sacramento detailing the study. Based on the notes I took from watching the (choppy) video, here's an outline of what it shows:

The study calculates the providing universal health care to all California's under the rubric of SB 562 would end up saving the people of California some $400B over the next ten years, or $40B per year, compared to continuing upon the state's current course.

Instead of costing some $370B a year at present, the financial study finds that, even covering everyone (which our current system doesn't), once we account for the savings we'll get out of the new system, it will cost about $330B a year. (Therefore, even ignoring inevitable increases in the cost of health care over the next ten years, we save $40B x 10 = $400B in today’s dollars, and probably more).

The study makes two recommendations on financing, proposals which are completely different than everyone had been talking about (i.e., payroll taxes). To wit:

A gross receipts tax on businesses for all income over $2M, at a rate of 2.6%, raising some $92B.

A 2.3% sales tax increase, with a rebate to families eligible for Medicaid of 2%, so that low-income families essentially pay nothing, raising some $14B.

How do businesses and families fend under these proposals?

In a very simplified format, the approximate cost change in overall medical costs to a family:

Families on Medicaid: down 5.5%

Other low income families: down 1%

Middle income families who are self-insured or underinsured: down 9%

Middle income families insured by their employers: down 3%

Wealthy Families: Up 1.5%

In a very simplied format, the approximate cost change to a business:

Small businesses paying no health insurance costs: 0%

Small businesses paying health insurance costs now: down 22%

Smaller Middle sized businesses: down 13.4%

Larger middle sized businesses: down 6.8%

Bigger businesses: down 5.7%

Huge businesses: down -0.6%

As Richard Pollin, the lead author on the study, said in the press conference:



"This measure is good for business."

Especially small businesses!

I don't have a link (yet) to the study or any of the charts or official notes. When I do I will link them. (I now have the charts; they are now at the bottom of the diary).

UPDATE: Here is the actual study.

This study illustrates that it is possible TO PROVIDE HEALTH CARE TO EVERYONE and still SAVE MONEY COMPARED TO THE EXISTING SYSTEM. That would be considered miraculous by certain Republican leaning groups, were they concerned about anything other than destroying the environment and tax cuts. Progressives, of course, realize that another world is possible when you remove the bureaucracy, behead (figuratively, of course) the insurance executives, force the drug companies to the table and make sure that people get the care they need when they need it - not after a condition turns deadly and a hundred times more costly.

No California legislator should have any reason to vote against this legislation.