Ignoring California’s Economic Woes, Boxer Continues Pushing New Costly Health Care Entitlements

Thursday, 03 December 2009 12:07

In the News

As U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) continues pushing for a massive government health care takeover, California officials are expressing concerns about the increased costs that this legislation would impose on the state’s already-struggling economy - a fact routinely ignored by Boxer in her rush to pass unfunded government entitlements.

Yesterday, the California Medical Association - the state’s largest doctors group - announced its opposition to the Democrats’ health care bill, saying "it would increase local health care costs and restrict access to care for elderly and low-income patients."

According to a recent report in the Washington Post, the unfunded mandates contained in the Democrats’ health care bill have been estimated to cost California approximately $8 billion annually. In October 2009, Kim Belshé, California’s secretary of health and human services, flatly stated her state could not afford the "hundreds of millions, if not billions, in new costs on the state."

Yet, despite her state’s incredible economic woes - California’s unemployment rate recently reached its highest point since World War II - Boxer continues advocating a massive new government entitlement.

"In her rush to pass a massive $2.5 trillion government health care bill, Barbara Boxer has ignored the grim economic reality in her state," said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson Marchand. "Given her inaction on the most pressing concern facing California voters, it’s no wonder Boxer’s popularity lags so far behind Dianne Feinstein’s."

Just last night in an interview on MSNBC, Boxer bragged about the expansion of government-run health programs, telling Ed Schultz: "We expand a government-run program called Medicaid and we take millions and millions of more people into that government-run plan. I have to check my facts, but I do think it`s another 30 million... We save another government-run plan, Medicare, by cutting out the waste, fraud and abuse and extending its life. We help another government-run plan, the prescription drug plan, by filling in that donut hole and helping people."

In light of the the potential dangers of the increased costs for individual state governments, governors across the country have expressed their concerns about the legislation.

Yesterday, Delaware Democrat Governor Jack Markell - incoming chairman of the Democratic Governors Association - added his voice to the growing chorus, saying "all governors are certainly concerned about what the potential impact is of some of these bills," and also adding that the government should instead focus "really significantly on the state level on jobs and on the economic climate overall."