Thursday, December 21, 2006 Coverage
& Access
Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger's Focus on Health Care
in 2007 Could Spur National Efforts for Health System Change
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
(R) expected focus on health care in 2007 "is likely to boost national
attention on one of the most intractable policy dilemmas facing the entire
country" because the state "has been a leader in addressing national
issues," the Wall Street Journal reports. According to the
governor, in his State of the State address on Jan. 9, 2007, he will
discuss how he plans to make health care the No. 1 priority of his second
term and likely will introduce a plan to provide health coverage for the
state's uninsured. Schwarzenegger in a Los Angeles Daily News
opinion piece this week wrote, "Every idea is being debated: market-based
solutions, employer mandates, individual mandates, new regulations,
removing old regulations." However, there is "disagreement" in California
and across the nation about how best to improve coverage and reduce costs,
the Journal reports. Schwarzenegger this year vetoed
legislation that would have created a single-payer health care system
overseen by a government agency. In his veto message, the governor wrote
that "such a program would cost the state billions and lead to significant
new taxes on individuals and businesses." Schwarzenegger's opposition to
increasing taxes to pay for health care "could make it difficult for the
governor to forge a bipartisan deal," the Journal reports.
Earlier this month, state Sen. Pro Tempore Don Perata (D), who helped
Schwarzenegger pass a bipartisan infrastructure measure last month,
proposed a plan under which employers and their employees would share the
costs of providing coverage to the state's working families. According to
the Journal, Schwarzenegger "might be able to build on"
Perata's "compromise approach." Some of the governor's political
opponents, including the Service Employees International Union, also have said they
will work with Schwarzenegger to find a solution. SEIU President Andrew
Stern said, "I think a successful health care plan in California would
begin to be the catalyst to change the country's health care system."
Stern added, "People look at California as almost its own country, with
all the complexities any state could find" (Carlton, Wall Street
Journal, 12/21).