The uber-generaous state of California has a state-run health insurance program called Medi-Cal. That program went insolvent earlier this year after going billions in the red, necessitating the state’s borrowing $3.44 billion to keep it afloat. What caused the $12-billion shortfall? Republicans say it was opening up the system to illegal aliens, at a cost of $11.4 billion, a move that came just last year. Democrats, however, are blaming “higher-than-expected health care utilization” and, of course, Donald Trump. Nevertheless, the state has had to consider “difficult but necessary steps” to deal with the crisis,” according to Elana Ross, deputy communications director for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
What will those steps be? The Democratic California Legislative Latino Caucus suggests, of course, a tax hike on the citizenry to pay for the “guests.” Newsom and company, for their part, are floating the idea of imposing a (nominal) $100 monthly premium for Medi-Cal users, a move that would work only if it encouraged enough subscribers to drop out. Meanwhile, the state is hemorrhaging taxpayers and, especially, doctors, many of whom have “closed up show” and moved out of state.
So goes the People’s State of California, once the Promised Land and now just a failed land of empty promises.
For more, see Fox News.