Government-Run Healthcare Payola

California gave us a lesson today in how government-run healthcare really works: Payoffs by interest groups to politicians, to get benefits favors or mandates.

That’s one of the many reasons why government-run healthcare is not a panacea for either cost-savings or for better care. Government-run healthcare is a panacea for powerful interest groups to enrich themselves by not having to compete in the open market, based upon value delivered, but instead to more simply pay-off and pressure politicians to favor their product, benefit or compensation.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

As Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez sought the endorsement of two major labor unions for his plan to overhaul healthcare in the state, he added several provisions to the legislation sweetening the deal for union members, including millions of dollars for better benefits and worker training.

The changes came soon after the unions donated more than $1 million combined to an initiative sponsored by Nuñez that would extend numerous lawmakers' terms, including his own.

In the final version, unveiled only days before Monday's vote, the unions received three years of increases in state funding of health insurance for tens of thousands of workers who provide in-home care for the elderly, blind and disabled.

The legislation as approved gives unions unilateral authority to create and operate trust funds to provide employee healthcare, taking the power to negotiate away from the county agencies that employ the workers. The amendment was sought by the Service Employees International Union.