Give Assembly Bill 1400 small credit for the audacity of its scope, breadth, and depth: Sweeping every federal and state health-care dime, decision making, and allocation of treatment into one entity, Cal Cares, under the control of nine unelected, unaccountable board members. Gone would be private insurance, Medi-Cal, Medicare, and TRICARE.

“Somehow they think they’re going to get the federal waivers and that the federal government is going to let us opt out of the Medicare Trust Fund and give us the funds to use for Cal Care,” said Assembly Member Jordan Cunningham, a vociferous critic of Assembly Bill 1400, the enabling mechanism for Cal Care. “I think that belief somewhat delusional.” 

California’s past experience with such large bureaucratic endeavors is not reassuring. “The state can’t even issue unemployment checks correctly, DMV has always been repleted with issues, and look at high-speed rail,” said Cunningham. We spent untold billions on high-speed rail, and we got almost nothing to show for it … Do we really want a new bureaucracy that’s untested, that’s run by nine appointed people controlling every aspect of peoples’ health care?” 

As for the price tag, Cunningham said, “The Cal Care Trust Fund, even with $162 billion in tax increases, will be insolvent Day 1 to the tune of $70 billion.”

Retail Theft

Cunningham, a former prosecutor, was also asked his view about the rash of retail theft throughout California. “If you’re looking at this objectively, you have to recognize, in my opinion, part of this is an unintended consequence of Proposition 47 … “We have set the law, between Prop. 47 and zero-bail policy, for misdemeanors to create this massive loophole that’s being exploited right now in terms of significant organized retail theft.”

Click the graphic below to listen to this highly informative, 21-minute podcast. You can also find all NFIB’s prior podcasts at this link.