Lets talk about the facts and reality of a single-payer health care system. The cost of such a system would literally double the state budget. It may offer no out-of-pocket expenses, but there would be plenty of costs.

First, there is the obvious: the tax burden of an estimated $9,200 per person, which a lower-wage Californian certainly cannot afford. Middle-class residents wont like it much, either.

But there are even greater costs, like the rationing of health care coverage which would likely result. Providers would be paid at very low Medi-Cal-type rates. How many specialists would be able to stay in business with such payment schedules? How many providers would flee to other states, where they could be paid fairly for their services? How many people would cross the borders into California for medical care?

That is the worst kind of adverse selection more wanting coverage coming in, more providers leaving. This will cause a huge shortage of doctors and greatly increase wait times for services.

I grew up in Michigan, a Canadian border state where many of my neighbors and friends were Canadian and had moved to Michigan because someone in their family was in need of a medical service that was not offered under the Canadian health care system (or, if so, they were not able to receive it within an acceptable time frame).

How many health conditions would worsen because of a single-payer system? How do you attach a cost to that? Would you be happy to wait several months for an MRI or a CT scan?

The Fraser Institute reported in 2016 that the average wait time is 11.1 weeks for an MRI in the Canadian system. Thats significantly better than when I was young, but still, it is a lot of time. Fraser also reported a four-week wait for an ultrasound and 10.6 weeks to see a specialist. The wait time to go from a general practitioner to a neurosurgeon for neurosurgery was 46.9 weeks. If someone needed brain surgery, a patient could die before the surgery. Is that what we want in California?

The single-payer system under Senate Bill 562 would eliminate the employer-based health care system. This is the only part of our health care system that has operated well, and continues to do so. Employers like providing health care coverage to their employees, as its an important employee benefit and a great recruiting tool. Employees look for jobs at companies that offer good health coverage. Its a win-win.

The single-payer plan is purportedly being considered to cover the approximately 4 percent of people who are uninsured in California. Why destroy the entire system for around 4 percent, when the costs to do so are so high? Why not just amend the existing system to deal with the serious problems?

The reality is, the majority of people who are uninsured are uninsured because they choose to be uninsured, such as the young, healthy people who think nothing can ever happen to them. If we could just pull them into the pool, that would offset some of the expenses of the older, sicker individuals.

Lets fix the problems, rather than destroy the system entirely. California cant afford a single-payer system. It will eliminate jobs, force providers out of the state, and create yet another government bureaucracy that we dont need.

The government should not tell us what procedures we can or cannot have done with regard to our health care. We should have that choice.

Dorothy Cociu, RHU, REBC, GBA, RPA, is president of Advanced Benefit Consulting in Anaheim and vice president of communications, Orange County Association of Health Underwriters. She is also past president of the Orange County Association of Health Underwriters and California Association of Health Underwriters.

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Don't kill choice in health care - OCRegister