Due to its lax immigration policies and easy access to welfare -- factors that indisputably increase crime rates -- California now spends more on its prisons than on the entire ten campus University of California system.
In 2001, California spent $680 million on medical services for its prisoners.
In 2004, California spent in excess of $1 billion for prisoners' health care services.
Last year, California spent $3 billion on health care for its prisoners.
In other words, over the last eight years, health care costs for California's single-payer prison system have more than quadrupled.
Yet in a June speech, President Obama justified a government takeover of the entire health care system with an observation on rising costs. He stated, "...more and more Americans are forced to worry about not just getting well, but whether they can afford to get well. Millions more wonder if they can afford the routine care necessary to stay well. Even for those who have health insurance, rising premiums are straining family budgets to the breaking point—premiums that have doubled over the last nine years..."
Compare and contrast: over the last eight years, costs for California's single-payer prison health care system -- controlled by Democrats for decades and heavily laced with unions at every level of government -- have increased more than four times.
The costs of premiums for the private health care system -- with all of its innovation and access to the latest drugs, diagnostic tests, advanced equipment and research, have only doubled in nine years.
Government can't possibly run things better than the free market. And California's prison health care system is just a microcosm of what we can expect.
And something else for seniors to consider: the costs for their care will compete with the health care costs of the federal prison system. And, if California is any indication, the prisoners' medical will come before seniors. There's only so much of taxpayers' money to go around.Welcome to CaliCare. It's the Democrat Utopia of California translated to the entire freaking United States.
Hey, there's a reason the prisoners are treated so well...they're all going to get the vote, if the Dems have their way. 9th Circuit court says that felons can vote. Case will go to the Supremes, and...well...this is in line with the Marxist revolution the Dems are trying to put in place...along with amnesty for illegals.
ReplyDeleteYou can also look at the University of California system as a precursor to national health care. This "public option" in education is raising fees sharply while reducing the number of students they admit... a form of "rationing", if you will.
ReplyDeleteWell, if all else failes guess one will have to commit a felony so one can go to jail without passing go and get health care.
ReplyDeleteHay, that might work. Free meals, free health care, don't have to get up everyone morning and go to work. Sounds better all the time.
The one area prisons need to spend money on health care is for mental disorders, but they don't. Porcelain veneers and gastric bypass are the order of the day.
ReplyDeletePlease do a review of every state's staggering prison health care costs and the "Cadillac plans" felons get at tax payers expense. Will Obamacare tax the prisoners health care plans like the unions?