(Editor’s note: The following statement was issued by Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, regarding the report that SB 562 (Lara / Atkins), the single-payer healthcare bill, will cost $400 billion per year to implement.)
Let’s look at the facts: California’s 2017-18 budget is estimated at $180 billion. We are the highest tax state in the nation, we are growing lower-wage and higher-wage jobs while losing middle-class jobs, unemployment is below 5 percent yet we are already projecting a budget deficit in the short term. We have billions in unfunded pension and health care liabilities, a worst-in-the-nation poverty rate, long-term debt and a growing housing crisis. But now the Legislature wants to consider a 200 percent increase in the state budget. There is no responsible way to pay for this proposal.
We are already seeing an exodus of low- and middle-income residents from our state. SB 562 is part of an ongoing progressive agenda that will only result in progressively bankrupting California.