Decline and Fall, the Next Step

California takes another step down the proverbial Road to Perdition. The Sacramento Bee, effectively the paper of record for CA state government, reports on the costs associated with the single payer health plan Democrat lawmakers would like to enact.

It would cost $400 billion to remake California’s health insurance marketplace and create a publicly funded universal heath care system, according to a state financial analysis released Monday.

California would have to find an additional $200 billion per year, including in new tax revenues, to create a so-called “single-payer” system, the analysis by the Senate Appropriations Committee found. The estimate assumes the state would retain the existing $200 billion in local, state and federal funding it currently receives to offset the total $400 billion price tag.

The cost is higher than the $180 billion in proposed general fund and special fund spending for the budget year beginning July 1.

Democrat majorities in both houses of the state legislature most likely see the enormous cost of single payer as a feature instead of a bug. It will give them an excuse to take in twice as much tax revenue from an already heavily taxed state. Imagine the opportunities for graft and corruption.

Watch the state's remaining private employers close their doors and head for the border as their costs skyrocket. California can become another Venezuela-type disaster without half trying.

My WY neighbor remarked he'd vote to give CA back to Mexico just to get rid of its economically illiterate Democrats. I'm not quite there ... yet.