GOVERNOR'S REMARKS - Office of the Governor of the State of California
Thursday, 07/12/2007 1:30 pm
Governor Delivers Remarks on Health Care at Bay Area Council
MR. HARDEN: Thank you. Well, good morning, and welcome to
San Ramon. We're very happy, from all of the employees of AT&T,
to be hosting this major event. As we look around, health care is
one of the most important issues we have, and like every business we're
very concerned with the rising cost of health care. In fact, you
might say we're one of the most concerned, in that we have one of the
largest health care bills of anyone in the country. AT&T spends
about 5.5 billion dollars a year on health care to cover about 1.2 million
workers. That includes not only the employees, but also includes our
retirees and their families.
So we're very interested in
looking at anything, any initiatives, that in fact can constrain the
rising costs of health care. In fact, in February AT&T, in
partnership with other businesses and with labor organizations, announced
its support for a number of principles that will help lead to meaningful
healthcare reform in the next few years. We're hoping for sooner, as
you might imagine. Many organizations are finding common ground on
this issue, because it's important to the economy, but it's also important
to the health of the businesses going forward.
The president
of the Communications Workers of America, which is the largest union
representing the workers of AT&T, said, and I quote: "Our
current system puts a huge strain on employers that provide quality
benefits for employees, both current and retired, and their
families. It's forcing many US businesses to compete not only on the
quality of their product, services, and performance, but instead on the
cost of health care benefits." End quote. It's great to see
that our employees are concerned about health care as much as we are.
I know that the Governor has some very interesting ideas on
this subject, and we all are very interested in hearing what he has to
say, so without further ado, let me ask you to give the Governor of the
State of California a warm welcome. Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger. Governor? (Applause)
GOVERNOR:
Well, thank you very much. It's nice to be here today, and I want to
thank Tim for the wonderful introduction. It's exactly the way I
wrote it. (Laughter)
And I also want to thank, of course, Jim
Wunderman, for his great work for the Bay Area Council. And it's
nice to be here. This morning, first thing when I came in here,
people asked me if I worked out already. I said, "Of course. I
work out every morning." As a matter of fact, I'm proud that I
already lifted 300 pounds. I lifted Tim out of the chair. That
was a good lift, huh? You see how it is right there?
(Applause)
Man, I feel all pumped up today, this is really
good. No, it's really great to be here today, and I want to thank
AT&T for hosting this. And Tim, I want to thank you for your
great, great leadership and helping us, because without this we would
never be able to do that. I want to thank the Bay Area Council also
for the great work that you are doing in shaping business in the San
Francisco Bay Area for the last 60 plus years. You've done an
extraordinary job, and I think that you are the big reason of why
California is enjoying the 1.7 trillion dollar economy.
And
you're also the big reason why we won last year with our Strategic Growth
Plan, the infrastructure bonds, the 37 billion dollars plus the 5 billion
dollars in water bonds. I came to you early on and I asked you for
your help to push that and to help me get it passed, and we did, and you
helped me really turn my vision into reality. And it is because you
are a big believer in investing in the future of California, and I think
this is very important, because you know that making sure that we have the
transportation system for this growing population that we have, expanding
our university system, building more schools, flood control, fixing our
levees, and all this kind of infrastructure, is very, very
important. And you are a big believer, because that is exactly what
makes our economy boom, or as I say, hum. Humming is very
important. So I think that you should give yourself a big hand for
that, for the great work that you have done. (Applause)
And
now, my friends, I'm back again, I'm back again to ask you again for your
help. As you know, this is very important. I need your help,
California needs your help, and I think that you could be again the big
reason why we get something historic done in this state, which is health
care reform. Just as we did with Workers' Compensation, we have to
fix our broken health care system once and for all, because it is the
poison of our economy and it is hurting everybody. Now, I mentioned
that during my State of the State Address, and for more than a year
now we have been working very hard to put the pieces together, and we are
very close to really bringing everyone together, all the stakeholders and
everyone. And I can tell you that as soon as we have a budget and we
are finished with our budget negotiations, we will be going to intense
negotiations in order to make this happen.
It is a tough
issue, obviously. I mean, as probably a lot of you know, that the
federal government has been talking about universal health care for almost
100 years. They started talking about it when the Titanic went
down. In 1912 Teddy Roosevelt, when he was campaigning to go back to
the White House for a third term, he was mentioning how important it is
for America to have universal health care -- 1912. And of course he
lost the that election, and with that also died universal health
care. And now, almost 100 years later, we are still talking about
universal health care.
It is a very risky thing to do, and
to tackle. As you know, a lot of people that have failed were
attacked viciously -- not that they were on the right track, but
nevertheless they were attacked -- so I think that I believe that even
though the federal government and other states were not able to do it, I
think that we really can do it, and do something very historic, if we all
work together. I believe very strongly, like George Skelton, a
tough-minded political columnist wrote in the LA Times last week that,
"The stars are in rare alignment this summer for health care reform in
California." I totally agree with him on that. I also agree
with the editorial in the San Jose Mercury News that says that, "This is
the best opportunity now for health care reform in a generation."
I think it is outrageous, if you think about it, that a
prosperous, progressive state like California, it's kind of a
nation-state, the Golden State, one of the greatest economies in the
world, has 6.5 million people that are uninsured. It is a
catastrophe for them, and it is a catastrophe for all Californians, for
businesses and for families. As a matter of fact, here we are the
7th largest economy in the world, and California is ranking 39th in the
nation when it comes to our overall health care system -- 39th in the
nation.
Now, there are a number of different proposals that
are floating around in Sacramento in order to fix this broken system, but
I see health care reform as a shared responsibility, something that
provides reliable and affordable health care for everyone, and helps
California employers and workers at the same time. Now, this is a
very important issue, may I remind you, for all Californians, not just for
employers. All Californians agree. As a matter of fact, there
was a study done by the Public Policy Institute of California just
recently, and it confirmed that 72 percent of all Californians have said
that yes, our health care system is broken, and we must fix it. They
also, the same percentage, interestingly enough, agreed, 72 percent
supported our plan, which requires everyone to be insured, mandatory
health care insurance with costs shared by employers, health care
providers, individuals, the federal government, state government, everyone
should share in this responsibility.
Like Workers'
Compensation before it was fixed, the current health care system is, as I
said, a huge burden to everybody, and it is punishing everybody.
Health care premiums are skyrocketing, and making it too expensive to
provide benefits for our workers. And let me tell you something, I
have traveled up and down the state now for the last half year, we have
had town hall meetings, and we have had roundtable discussions, and we
brought everyone together and talked to everyone, if it is business
leaders, labor leaders, if it is health care providers, consumer groups,
the workers. Everyone is in agreement that our health care costs are
just too high and they can't afford it anymore. And the fact of the
matter is, not only are they too high and they're skyrocketing, but we are
paying twice. You are paying for your own health care, and you are
paying also for those that are uninsured, which is through a hidden
tax. As a matter of fact, businesses in California right now are
paying 14.7 billion dollars on that hidden tax.
Now,
yesterday the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research issued a
comprehensive study that shines the bright spotlight on this
problem. Here are some of the findings:
•
First, the percentage of people who get insurance at work is
decreasing, is going down, since 2001 to 2005. As a matter of fact,
this has had such an effect that 700,000 fewer people had coverage through
their jobs, despite a strong economic growth over that same period of
time.
• Second, the cost of family coverage
offered through employers went up from 6,877 dollars in 2001 to 10,430
dollars in 2005. Ladies and gentlemen, that is an increase of 66
percent in just four years. And like I said, you cannot afford these
kind of increases. And you cannot pass it on to your customers,
because you can't pass on every year double digit increases, or 20 to 30
percent increases, as we have heard from so many employers, because
otherwise you will not be competitive, and that basically just means that
your bottom line is shrinking and shrinking.
•
Third, the study also found that more than 80 percent of the 6.5
million uninsured are actually workers and their families, because so many
times we think that the uninsured are the unemployed, which is not the
case.
• And fourth, the study shows that more and
more employees are turning down health benefits for themselves and their
dependents because it is just too costly.
So, as you can
see, even the latest studies confirm what I have been saying all along,
that we must fix this system, and we must fix it now.
Now,
here is the good news: Democrats and Republicans in Sacramento agree
that the system is broken, and both of the parties agree that it needs to
be fixed, and this is the year to fix it, that the status quo is just
unacceptable and it is unsustainable. All agree with that. But
there are different ways, and different ways of thinking of how it should
be done. Some, for example, want government to take over the system,
single-payer, what we have just heard earlier. Others would place
the burden squarely on the employers, having them pay premiums a minimum
of 7.5 percent, 7.5 percent of the wages. So that is, of course,
outrageous. Others want to have a system that is entirely
market-based.
Now, I do not believe that health care reform
is about extracting 7.5 percent from the business community rather than
spreading out the responsibility. And I don't think that we should
have it government run. We have tried that before. I mean, as
you know, our prison health care system is government run. Well,
they ran it into the ground so the federal judge had to take over 13 years
ago, so that's not a direction to go either.
I believe that
health care reform is about shared responsibility, it is about a
comprehensive approach that features wellness and prevention, new
information technology, cost containment, and an end to the hidden tax
that is crippling California's economy.
Now, how do we
accomplish all of this? Well, that's why I'm here today; I need your
help. Now it is time for you to commit and to send a clear signal to
the legislature. And what I mean by that is that up until now the
business community in California has been helping us by saying yes, we
need health care reform, while labor is out there saying yes, we need
health care reform, everyone is out there saying yes, we need health care
reform. So now the whole of California knows we need health care
reform and this is the year.
But now you have to be more
specific. Now you have to narrow it down, because as I said, this
health care reform, do you want the government to take over and run the
system? Because that's health care reform, but I don't think that's
where you want to go. Or do you wan to be punished and pay 7.5
percent of the wages? I don't think that's where you want to go
either. So you have to be more specific from now on when you call
the legislators, rather than just saying we want health care reform, we
love what you're doing. You don't love everything they're doing,
trust me. (Applause)
So make it clear it to them. Make
it clear to them. Tell the legislators that you believe in shared
responsibility. Tell them that you believe that everyone should be
covered. Mandatory health care insurance, so that we can increase
the risk pool. And tell them that the insurance companies should not
be able to refuse anybody. It doesn't matter if it is because of
age, or because of a medical history, no one should be refused. And
tell them that you don't want business to bear an unfair burden. And
tell them also that you want the private sector, not government, to run
this system. So those are the kind of things. You've got to be
very specific, what you like and what you don't like, so they get
it. You don't have to necessarily say, "We want Schwarzenschnitzel's
system." No, you don't have to go and say that. You just say
those things that I just told you, and then they will get it, of what
system you want. (Laughter)
I need your help on this, and I
need your support. If I get that help and that support, we can do
it. We can do with health care reform, exactly the same thing that
we have done with Workers' Compensation reform. Remember, it's
giving now back to the private sector 13 to 14 billion dollars.
That's what we want to do with this. We want to cut down the costs,
we want to bring down that hidden tax, we want to make it
affordable. This is what this is all about. And we can do
that, just like with Workers' Comp, or like with our Strategic Growth Plan
last year. If we work together we can repair our broken system and
make California a shining example for other states, and a shining example
for Washington. Washington can learn from us, as they are slowly
doing also with the environmental issues. So let's do it all
together. I'm counting on you. Let's work together on this.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
(Applause)