COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:State’s broken healthcare system needs to be fixed

California’s healthcare system is broken and dysfunctional. Recent studies estimate that six million California residents don’t have healthcare insurance coverage.

The cost of health insurance has skyrocketed in recent years, with the average family paying about $2,824 a year in health insurance premiums. Such excessive costs must be reduced.

And did you know that included in those premium payments is a “hidden tax” that is used to subsidize the cost of paying for the healthcare needs of illegal immigrants? That’s not right, and it is one of the main reasons why healthcare for California residents is so expensive.

In order to put the pieces back together, we need to adopt a fiscally responsible approach. We don’t need new taxes or fees to be placed on the backs of California businesses too, especially $250 million of new government-mandated benefits to illegal immigrants.

Our state is ranked as the second-worst small-business-friendly state in the nation. Increasing costly healthcare mandates will only make doing business here less attractive.

The goal of having all legal California residents receive healthcare is not a bad idea, but there are right and wrong approaches.

I am glad that the governor included in his healthcare plan certain proposals that I have supported in the past, including investment in healthcare technology; the streamlining of government regulations; the increase of Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for doctors and hospitals; and the expanded use of community clinics.

So what is the key to solving California’s healthcare crisis? One common-sense change would be to revise our legal system to reduce medical malpractice costs. Certainly, patients should be allowed to recover just and reasonable compensation from a negligent doctor or hospital, but we must eliminate runaway jury verdicts that drive up healthcare costs.

Requiring everyone to pay their fair share should also be part of any approved plan. It is unfair for those who pay for their own healthcare to also have to subsidize those who refuse to obtain coverage when they can easily afford it.

There are nearly a million Californians in this category. Typically, this is a younger person, in the range of 30 years of age, who has a good job and is making upwards of $50,000 per year. Often, these individuals, because of their age and medical history, believe they will never get sick or need emergency medical treatment. When it happens, their medical treatment is free and the rest of us have to pick up the tab in the form of higher health insurance premiums. That’s the “hidden tax” I mentioned earlier.

Like the governor, I welcome free-market reforms, such as Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which will make coverage more affordable for workers and small-business owners.

To help individuals and families who work for small businesses fund their Health Savings Accounts, I am introducing legislation this year to give small-business owners a tax credit on HSA contributions for the first $500 per worker with family coverage and the first $200 per worker with individual coverage. These accounts help mitigate our the skyrocketing healthcare costs by allowing taxpayers to use pre-tax dollars to pay for them.

It’s a shame that state legislators in the last few years have passed numerous laws that drive up healthcare costs, yet do little to help taxpayers pay for these increases.

Providing a tax credit for employer contributions to Health Savings Accounts would make healthcare more affordable for working families as well as provide employer incentives to expand enrollment.

The bottom line is that California needs a plan that is less expensive, increases access to healthcare coverage, requires everyone to pay their fair share and at the same time reduces the burdensome mandates that unnecessarily drive up the cost of healthcare to its legal citizens.