I saw an article recently that Cali was going to provide HC for about 750,000 immigrant workers in the state/country illegally at a cost of about 2.7 billion.
I think the math worked out to around $3500 a person. Which made me wonder "Does Cali do HC as a state system better than the rest of the country?" Or "Are the immigrants healthier overall than rest of average America?" and various other variables into the equation.
But point stands, because the average cost in this country is up over 12k per capita. And yet Cali gonna provide HC at an average cost of $3500 per immigrant.
And people point to the "illegal" part. But I read it was either designed for, or going to concentrate, on giving HC access to the ones in the Agriculture sector(I don't know if it was totally 100% only for Agr workers. But it seemed like it was gonna be a huge portion) Which is huge to Cali's economy.
Cali's Agriculture sector is #1 in the nation. And #2 isn't even close. And it's not Texas. Even FL with people always thinking about the citrus fruits from there, FL is way down the list in terms of size and value. But Cali's is by far the largest and most valuable. And Agriculture isn't just growing fruits and veggies, it's meat, poultry, pork, dairy, nuts & legumes, grains, etc.
But back to the 2.7 billion for HC for the 750,000(i don't remember exact number) "illegal' immigrants - remember, all, or most, are employed, so they're contributing taxes to the state as well. The state employs about 18 million people. 3rd highest per capita income. Using a flat rate, evenly shared across the board cost for only the working folks - no business or corporation tax figured in - the math works out to about 50 cents a day for each worker in the state evenly sharing the cost.
I mean, seems like a small cost to burden when knowing that a large portion of those "illegal" immigrants are contributing to your food source, not to mention the whole Countries. And yet people not even living in Cali will complain about the cost. people in my State of KY, which is a net negative contributor when it comes to federal taxes. KY's gets about $1.40(note: I don't remember last estimate, but I'm close) in federal funds for every $1 paid to the overall federal gov. Where as Cali gets back less in federal funds than they contribute.
And yes, I know I'm using 2 different comparisons, one is a state tax issue and other is an analogy using fed tax.
Point is: People beetch and moan about anything and everything w/o ever looking at a larger picture and or breaking the math down to how miniscule something is on a larger scale.
Me, me, me - tribal, tribal, tribalism. Everything from one side's POV is ALWAYS framed as an ATTACK on YOU.