California faces a 12.6% unemployment rate, and a $20 billion budget deficit. Assembly Democrats seem to believe that the solution to these problems is to rush to implement ObamaCare.
Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez introduced a bill this week to conform parts of state law to ObamaCare and set up a massive new state health care bureaucracy. Given that even the federal government is still figuring out exactly how they are going to implement this sweeping new law, there is no need for California to push a bill prematurely through the Legislature right now.
ObamaCare is facing Constitutional challenges and the threat of repeal at the moment, not to mention a tide of negative public opinion. However, if we are to ultimately implement this enormous new government-run healthcare scheme at some point in the future, we need to make sure that we are doing it the right way. The Governor’s Administration, the Legislature, stakeholders and the experts should convene a working group on all of the steps that California would need to take to most effectively implement this extremely complex new law, not just hurry to pass a piecemeal approach.
So what’s the rush? Democrats claim that his bill will create badly-needed jobs in California. The notion that expensive new taxes and increased government spending will stimulate our economy and create more private sector jobs than it kills is absurd. ObamaCare will create jobs for public sector bureaucrats, including thousands of IRS agents to ensure that every American has health insurance, whether they can afford it or not.
In fact, more than 130 prominent economists signed a letter to the White House before its passage saying that ObamaCare will raise taxes by almost $500 billion over ten years, with a significant portion falling on small business owners. The same economists said that the law will increase the cost of health coverage because of the new taxes and their damaging effects on the economy.
If that were not enough, the Governor’s Administration estimates that ObamaCare will force the state to spend an additional $3 billion in Medicaid costs; money that we do not have. The state has already reduced funding to essential programs, released inmates, sent pink slips to teachers, and furloughed state workers to save cash. Coming up with a few extra billion to increase Medicaid spending would be nearly impossible.
If the Democrats are truly committed to creating private sector jobs now, they can join my Assembly Republican colleagues and me to pass our California Jobs First plan, a package of 17 bills that will get people back to work right away. Our package will reduce the high costs and irrational regulations that have hindered economic growth in our state for too long.
With the majority of ObamaCare’s provisions not taking effect until 2014, the Legislature should not be rushing to conform to a federal law when there are still so many questions left unanswered. If ObamaCare is still the law of the land in the years to come, and the federal government gives clear direction on what actions states are required to take, then the Legislature will be forced to take measured steps to implement all of it – but not now.
Instead of prematurely rushing through a massive new government healthcare scheme in California that won’t be required for years, the Legislature should first focus on tackling the state’s current $20 billion budget deficit. When the time comes, the Legislature should work with the Governor and the federal government to determine how California will need to proceed on ObamaCare. The state cannot afford to rashly implement another government program that could make our jobs and budget problems worse in the years to come.
Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, R-Thousand Oaks, is a member of the Assembly Health Committee and represents the 37th Assembly District in the California Legislature.