You're mixing up insurance costs with service costs.
California is more expensive because all ratepayers are bearing the costs for people who do not participate in the insurance system or pay. We have this crazy system where we want cheap workers to build things and farm, but we don't want to provide them with the benefits of legitimate status.
So, when a day laborer being paid off the books falls off a scaffold and requires hospitalization, that care turns into an unpaid debt. Because he gets kicked out of the hospital as soon as possible, he doesn't recover well and ends up back in the emergency room in a few weeks.
You're mixing up insurance costs with service costs.
California is more expensive because all ratepayers are bearing the costs for people who do not participate in the insurance system or pay. We have this crazy system where we want cheap workers to build things and farm, but we don't want to provide them with the benefits of legitimate status.
So, when a day laborer being paid off the books falls off a scaffold and requires hospitalization, that care turns into an unpaid debt. Because he gets kicked out of the hospital as soon as possible, he doesn't recover well and ends up back in the emergency room in a few weeks.