A universal, single-payer health care system – the utopian cornerstone of my opponent’s legislative agenda for the past several years – is a guaranteed path to disaster, ensuring a falling standard of health care, rationing, delays, and inefficiency that characterizes all government monopolies. The independent Legislative Analyst Office projects that significant shortfall would exist if the Single-Payer Health Care System (SB-840) was implemented. If the government imposes SB-840, not only will the quality of healthcare in California drop, but the costs of health care would spike.
I believe in an alternative approach to ensuring that all of our citizens are provided quality care. I support tax credits to individuals as well as private employers, which encourage Californians to obtain and maintain health coverage utilizing free-market approaches. Small businesses should be encouraged to provide health insurance to their employees through the judicious use of tax credits and self-insurance pools. Californians must have multiple choices for health insurance and healthcare. The burden for providing access to quality health care must fall on all Californians, not just doctors, hospitals, and businesses.