How Obamacare Will Hurt California

President Obama signed into law what will surely be known as one of the worst pieces of public policy in American history. His big-government takeover of America’s healthcare system passed against the will of many Americans. It marks a loss for liberty and a victory for greater government control.

The Democrats rejected bipartisan input and compromise to pass this misguided legislation along a narrow, partisan vote. They hit us with a bloated, constitutionally-suspect bill that grows government and fails to achieve the reforms necessary to constrain the costs of American health care. The bill not only forces intolerable new costs on consumers and state budgets during an economic downturn, it fails to include basic protections against illegal immigrants in the system.

Consumers will bear the burden of higher health insurance premiums and health care costs, in addition to an onerous federal mandate that will require residents to have health insurance, whether they want it or not. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2016, premiums in the individual market will be 10 percent to 13 percent higher under the health care bill than they would have been under current law. The chief actuary at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates that, overall, the bill will increase health care spending by $222 billion over the next ten years.

Californians will also have to bear the burden of an enormous new strain on state finances. The health care bill achieves expanded health coverage in part by radically enlarging the Medicaid program. State governments pay a substantial portion of Medicaid’s costs. The chief deputy director for California’s health care programs has stated the bill’s Medicaid provisions will add an additional $2 billion to $3 billion to the state budget annually. Our state has already been struggling to close a $20 billion budget gap. Now the health care bill will force us to pay for expansion of a program riddled with waste and abuse.

Even as Californians struggle with rising health costs and growing budget deficits, Obamacare will slam them with new taxes and fees. Worse still, the proceeds these taxes may be used to provide benefits to illegal immigrants.

The health care bill ostensibly limits benefits to lawful residents and bars illegal immigrants from the bill’s programs. But there is reason to believe that these provisions are little more than a sham designed to provide political cover for congressional Democrats while giving a wink and nod to fraudulent participation by illegal immigrants.

Existing law sets up the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system. The SAVE system is similar to the E-Verify system used by employers. SAVE has been in operation for more than 20 years and is the established method for determining benefit eligibility and preventing fraudulent enrollment by illegal immigrants.

Yet the health care bill does not require the use of this existing system. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) introduced language to make screening under SAVE an explicit requirement of the health care bill, but this language did not make it into the final version.

Instead, the bill creates new procedures that will likely prove to be less robust and less reliable than the proven SAVE system. This leaves the door open to widespread fraud and the de-facto coverage of illegal immigrants at taxpayer expense. There is no excuse for this.

Fortunately, conservatives continue to fight against the general government takeover of our health system and the specific flaws of this health care bill. For example, shortly after the House Democrats approved Obamacare, House Republicans made another effort to add language prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortion. The House Democrats voted down this motion. While my opponent sides with the Democrats on this issue, I side with the conservatives who oppose taxpayer-funded abortions.

There is no doubt that America’s health care system needs serious reform. Obamacare, however, is not the way to fix it. The weak protections against illegal immigrants and the huge new costs on already strained state budgets are just two of the many reasons why 59 percent of Americans oppose this legislation. The health care bill is completely at odds with the American traditions of liberty and federalism that pervade our societal and constitutional norms. I encourage leaders and patriots across our state and nation to fight implementation of this ill-conceived law. As governor, you can be sure that I will do the same.