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WASHINGTON -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued a statement saying he supports President Barack Obama's goals of overhauling the country's health care system to hold down costs and improve quality. The statement doesn't endorse any specific piece of legislation. But Schwarzenegger says he appreciates Obama's partnership with the states and thinks lawmakers from both parties should "move forward and accomplish these vital goals for the American people." Schwarzenegger's comments come as the White House and Senate Democrats are touting other statements of support from Republicans _ though most have been accompanied by various caveats. Former Health and Human Services...

In a much different environment two years ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his second term by pledging to reshape health care in California. The governor is on the verge of doing so – but hardly in the way he envisioned. To shrink a $24.3 billion deficit, Schwarzenegger this week asked legislators to make California the first state to eliminate government health coverage for low- to moderate-income children. Schwarzenegger hopes to save $305 million in 2009-10 by closing the state's Healthy Families program, which provides medical, dental and vision care to more than 900,000 children. The state provides only about...

When representatives of various health industries stood with President Barack Obama at the White House last week and pledged to cut health-care costs, it turns out they were traveling familiar terrain. Many of those same groups had been through similar discussions about curbing costs in California as that state tried, and failed, to pass an ambitious health overhaul in 2007 and 2008. "That was very important to all the group," said Karen Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans and a leader in the industry's talks with the White House. "As a result of that effort, a number of different...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, CEOs and celebrity doctors took up U.S. President Barack Obama's campaign for healthcare reform on Monday, saying millions of Americans need help.

In his current incarnation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger never tires of asserting that Republicans are too rigidly ideological. On ABC's “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” he called state GOP lawmakers out of touch for refusing to go along with his budget deal, which included $12.8 billion in higher taxes and (honestly calculated) about $7 billion in spending cuts. Schwarzenegger in the next breath went on to reveal that he planned to renew his push for state health care “reform,” even if it requires another round of big tax hikes, “because that's what the people want you to do.” This is mind-boggling....

How Arnold Schwarzenegger's overhaul plan was doomed by the Legislature's liberal-conservative partisan crossfire -- The defeat last month of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to overhaul California's health care industry was a disappointing failure for the governor on the one issue he had put at the top of his agenda for an entire year. But the proposal's demise was also a vivid confirmation of Schwarzenegger's diagnosis of what ails the Legislature. The bill died in a partisan crossfire, opposed from the beginning by conservative Republicans and ultimately killed by liberal Democrats. It was a centrist approach in a Capitol where centrism...

State Senate's leader leaves a sad legacy as historic opportunity dies on his watch - The demise of health care reform in the California Senate is a crushing setback for the 6.7 million Californians who lack health insurance.It's a staggering defeat for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, and for an unlikely mix of business groups, labor unions, hospitals and consumer organizations that rallied behind the plan these two leaders brokered.But more than anything, the defeat of this reform package represents a sad final legacy for Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata. The Senate leader helped negotiate the...

Arnold Schwarzenegger's "universal" health-care plan died in the California legislature on Monday, in what can only be called a mercy killing. So let's conduct a political autopsy, because there are important lessons here for the national health-care debate. It's especially useful to compare today's muted obituaries to the page-one melodrama that surrounded the Governor when he announced his plan a year ago. Endless media mash notes were bestowed on the "post-partisan" Republican trying to get something done. The idea was that Mr. Schwarzenegger would set a national precedent, leading to a groundswell for reform in Washington. Not to mention that...

[On] Monday, [] a Senate health committee is expected to vote against Mr. Schwarzenegger’s widely promoted and potentially legacy-defining bill on universal health care. A “no” vote would effectively kill the bill, which would also need voter approval to become law. The bill, which would offer coverage to millions of uninsured Californians, passed the State Assembly in December but began to stall in the Senate last week after the state’s legislative analyst raised questions about its financing and two prominent Democrats announced they would vote against it. Chief among many Democrats’ concerns was the proposal of a so-called individual mandate,...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suffered his biggest legislative defeat Monday when a Senate committee blocked his yearlong effort to provide health care coverage to most Californians without insurance. The $14.9 billion annual plan, hailed as the most sweeping effort by any state to provide near-universal health care, was negotiated by the Republican governor and Democratic Speaker Fabian Núñez but died in the Senate Health Committee. Only one of the seven Democrats on the panel voted for AB 1X1 -- authored by Núñez, D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland -- while all four Republicans voted against bill. Opponents,...

Arnold's health care bill for a new 14 billion dollar program has died an ugly death. No Republican voted for it and even Perada, the Speaker of the House that Arnold sold his soul too to get passed by supporting Prop 93 (to extend Term limits) just laughed. It will not go anywhere.

The California Senate Health Committee just voted down Schwarzenegger's Healthcare scheme. See these other threads for more details: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960942/postshttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1958355/posts

SACRAMENTO - The sweeping health care package backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders faces a do-or-die vote in a Senate committee today amid signs of fraying support among Democrats - and an explosive new report warning that the plan could be billions of dollars in the red within years. In a best-case scenario, the plan's revenues would cover its costs in the first year, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill wrote in her review released Tuesday evening. However, by the fifth year, she estimates the program's annual costs would exceed revenues by $300 million. If health care premiums were to...

A key state senator said Tuesday that he'll vote against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care expansion bill, leaving the measure's fate in doubt on the eve of its first Senate hearing. The bill's supporters also got some bad news from the Legislature's budget analyst, who said the costs of running an insurance pool that would be established under the program could exceed revenues by as much as $1.5 billion a year in the fifth year of the program. That would lead to an overall deficit in the fund of $4 billion under the cost scenario the analyst said was most...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $14 billion health care expansion bill moves to the Senate, where it will face an extended hearing this week and the likelihood of a close vote in the Health Committee. "This is not a slam dunk," said Sen. Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat who could end up being the swing vote on the measure. The bill passed the Assembly in December, but the Senate put off consideration to give the Legislature's budget analyst, Elizabeth Hill, time to report on the bill's costs. The Health Committee will take it up Wednesday with a hearing that the chairwoman,...

Thus Mr. Schwarzenegger's ambitions didn't die -- but for now, maybe call them the living dead. The negotiators rushed to patch together a policy framework before 2007 ended, but they didn't have the votes to actually pay for it... So if this scheme is to become reality, new taxes on tobacco, hospitals and business must be ratified by voters in a November ballot initiative. Assuming that the bill reaches Mr. Schwarzenegger's desk at all. His plan may hit a wall in the state Senate, where President Pro Tem Don Perata, a Democrat, has qualms about the plan's cost in the...

The core of the governor’s socialized medicine proposal is a mandate that every Californian MUST carry health insurance and that every insurance company MUST cover anyone who applies, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions. It’s called “guaranteed issue,” and it sounds too good to be true. That’s because it is. But if you are guaranteed health insurance AFTER you get sick, why would you pay for it when you are healthy? The governor’s advocates say that’s not a problem, since everybody will be required to carry health insurance, thus spreading the risk. Wait a minute. We already have a law that...

SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez have submitted ballot language asking voters to fund their health care reform plan. With time running short to qualify the measure for the November 2008 ballot, they acted before the state Senate has given its approval. The Senate's Democratic leader says he is reluctant to pass the health coverage expansion while the state is facing a multibillion dollar budget deficit.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday said the budget proposal he will release next month will come wrapped in a fiscal emergency declaration, a move that will force lawmakers to tackle California's darkening budget picture months earlier than they otherwise might. The emergency means lawmakers will have to reopen the budget the governor signed in August and consider almost immediate cuts to schools, prisons and aid programs to the poor. Any state budget cuts to education or social programs — which account for more than three-fourths of the state's budget — are likely to draw criticism from Democrats, who control both...

SACRAMENTO – A strong majority of California voters favor the health care overhaul plan passed Monday by the Assembly and the $2-per-pack tobacco tax needed to fund the measure, according to the latest Field Poll. The poll shows that voters support the plan either “strongly” or “somewhat” by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio, 64 percent to 23 percent. Sixty-three percent of voters also support the proposed tobacco tax, while 33 percent oppose it. “Voters are pretty much in sync with the proposal going through the Legislature,” Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo said. The poll is a boost for Assembly Speaker Fabian...

The State Senate must approve the measure next, which isn't a sure thing. Senate President Don Perata, D-Oakland, wants to know first whether the gargantuan health care package would adversely affect the state's budget, which already is projected to be $14 billion in the red for fiscal 2008-09. Sen. Perata, on a Bay Area radio station Tuesday, said "I think [the plan is]DOA. I haven't found anybody yet … that can make any sense of it." He said he will not allow a vote until 2008. The saving grace is that the legislation amounts only to political grandstanding if voters...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez are probably still in the Governor's cigar tent this morning, puffing away on stogies to celebrate the Assembly's 45-31 vote yesterday in favor of their compromise health insurance “reform” bill. It was by far the pair's top goal for 2007. Schwarzenegger desperately wants another fix of national media attention after taking a yearlong victory lap for the state's landmark greenhouse gas emissions law in 2006. Núñez was deeply envious and wants his turn in the spotlight. The result of this desperation has been a farce masquerading as a public debate. No hearings...

f legislation approved by the state Assembly Monday becomes law, it would be the largest overhaul of a health care system ever undertaken by a state. The legislation also would require insurance companies to offer coverage to Californians with pre-existing medical conditions. The landmark measure that would provide coverage to most uninsured Californians cleared its first major hurdle when it was approved along party lines in the Democratic-controlled lower house. If the Senate approves the bill and voters agree to pay for it, it would extend coverage to nearly 70 percent of the state's permanently uninsured and require most Californians...

Philosopher George Santayana said it best: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." A bit of political history was repeated Monday when the state Assembly voted 46-31 along party lines for an immense new health care scheme without knowing whether it would work, or even how it would work – very much like the Legislature enacted a far-reaching energy "deregulation" scheme in 1996 that turned out to be a humongous disaster. The Assembly Appropriations Committee conducted a pro forma hearing and gave party-line approval, even though, as one critic, Donna Gerber of the California Nurses Association,...

The state Assembly on Monday approved the first phase of a $14.4-billion plan to extend medical insurance to nearly all residents, giving Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Democratic allies their first victory in a risky yearlong campaign to overhaul California's healthcare system. The measure, negotiated by Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles), would require almost everyone in California to have insurance starting in 2010. It would provide subsidies and tax credits for those who would have trouble paying their share of the premiums. The authors estimate that it would bring medical coverage to 3.6 million Californians, including 800,000...

SACRAMENTO - The state Assembly this afternoon approved a sweeping health care reform plan that would extend health insurance to more than two-thirds of the state's uninsured and create new protections for people anxious about keeping their coverage because of a pre-existing health condition. The plan, which faces uncertain prospects in the Senate and then must be approved by voters before taking effect, would create a new requirement that individuals carry insurance or potentially be fined. Employers would have to offer coverage or pay a percentage of revenues into a state health pool. The proposal would also impose taxes on...

For three reasons, that's wrong. An honest assessment of the budget picture – of the sort required of corporations by the Sarbanes-Oxley law – would put the 2007-08 deficit at $16.3 billion, not $14 billion. That's because Sacramento treats the $48 billion in guaranteed-but-unfunded health care benefits for state retirees as if it were something ethereal instead of a huge fiscal obligation that state Controller John Chiang says should be prefunded with $2.3 billion a year. Both the governor and Assembly Speaker Fabian NÚñez continue to push for a grand health insurance measure under which nearly all employers would be...

in·cred·i·ble –adjective 1. so extraordinary as to seem impossible: incredible speed. 2. not credible; hard to believe; unbelievable: The plot of the book is incredible. —Synonyms: farfetched, astonishing, preposterous. "It's an incredible plan," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles). The Speaker’s quote about the just-struck agreement on government healthcare with Governor Schwarzenegger unintentionally speaks volumes. Incredible, farfetched, preposterous, hard to believe – call it what you will, the plan will cost far more than advertised and will drive business out of state, reducing state tax revenue and throwing people out of work. Beginning with a low-balled $14 billion price...

That bill does not contain the taxes or other measures that would provide the $14 billion a year needed to finance the ambitious overhaul and would not take effect unless the ballot measure passed. That puts Democratic lawmakers in the highly unusual position of voting on the plan without being able to assess whether the intricate financing scheme will be adequate. Republicans have vowed to vote against the measure. The moves came as Schwarzenegger promised to call an emergency session of the Legislature for early January to make cuts to the state's budget. The governor's office estimates the projected gap...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez have agreed on most aspects of a $14 billion health reform measure that would expand coverage to nearly 3.6 million uninsured Californians and force nearly everyone to buy health insurance. A few details remain to be settled, such as the dollar amount of a tobacco tax to help finance the deal. But the two have agreed on most aspects of the bill, including a sliding scale fee for employers, ranging from 1 percent of payroll to 6.5 percent of payroll, depending on the size of the company. There will also be a...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has scrapped his proposal to lease the state lottery to help finance a universal health care plan and instead agreed to Speaker Fabian Núñez's proposal to raise taxes on tobacco products, officials disclosed Friday. The governor also has agreed to establish a higher sliding scale fee on employers than he previously had to help finance the $14 billion plan. The new proposal calls for requiring businesses, depending on their size, to spend 1 percent to 6.5 percent of their payroll on health care or pay into a state fund. Schwarzenegger had proposed that employers pay zero to...

Legislative leaders said Thursday that more taxes would be needed to fill a projected $14-billion budget gap next year, and the state Senate president said a healthcare overhaul -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's priority this year -- will have to wait. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) said lawmakers would have to consider raising a host of taxes, including those on Internet purchases and on foreign companies that do business in California. "We've got to close those tax loopholes," Nuñez told reporters at a news conference. "We can generate billions by doing that." Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) said...

Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders have declared this the year for health care reform. They’re working hard to put something on the 2008 ballot for voter approval. But as we turn the calendar to December, these elected leaders have yet to reach an agreement on what “reform” should look like. Furthermore, striking a legislative deal would be the easy part. It will be much harder to get voters to ratify any agreement. Various versions of health care reform have been on the California ballot eight times in the past fifteen years, and been rejected every time. Defeated proposals include sweeping...

When I was browsing Rough & Tumble this morning and saw that Associated Press had come up with its own in-depth analysis of the governor's health care proposal, I was hopeful that the global wire service would take a close look at the vast evidence that the gov's plan was illegal under a 1974 federal law known as ERISA. No such luck. Even though the only state in the union with a law mandating that employers provide or pay for health insurance is the one (Hawaii) with a congressional exemption from the federal law, this fact has barely been acknowledged...

To bring about universal coverage in California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says people must start thinking about health insurance the way they do auto insurance - as a responsibility everyone must shoulder to make the system work. The idea polls well, and Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards are pushing it in their presidential campaigns. But a look at how mandatory insurance has fared in other places, from Switzerland to Massachusetts, shows it will not be easy to put into practice in California. The reason is mainly the cost. Health care is a lot cheaper in the countries that have...

One twelfth of the United States is poised to adopt a sweeping healthcare reform program, making some dubious assumptions about funding along the way. Many voters remain uncertain of the answer to the key question: "How will the proposed healthcare reforms affect me?" On October 9th, Governor Schwarzenegger released a revised version of the healthcare reform proposal he first offered in January. There are differences between the initial proposal and the new plan, now a 220-page bill called "The Health Care Security and Cost Reduction Act." The Act carries a price tag of $14 billion and would affect millions of...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is moving toward a possible deal with Democrats on health care. The two sides have compromised on key issues, such as how much employers should pay toward their workers' health coverage, although there is still significant distance between them when it comes to small businesses. Movement came suddenly this week, after months of deadlock. On Monday, Democrats agreed to a requirement that all Californians obtain health insurance, the cornerstone of the reform plan Schwarzenegger unveiled in January. But they put in an escape clause that would exempt those forced to spend more than 6.5 percent of their...

Schwarzenegger administration officials said Tuesday they were gratified by the compromise on health care reform that Democrats offered the previous day, but the two sides are still at odds over how much employers should pay. "It's a very encouraging sign," said Daniel Zingale, a top policy adviser to the governor. "And we are definitely moving closer." Democrats have gone their own way on health care since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger laid out a universal coverage plan in January. This fall, they passed a major health coverage expansion funded largely through taxes on employers, even after Schwarzenegger said he would veto it,...

Democratic leaders on Monday agreed to key elements of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care reform plan, including mandatory insurance, according to a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. They embraced the idea while demanding some exemptions for people who are in financial trouble. Public programs also would expand to cover families earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level - about $62,000 a year for a family of four. Democrats also lowered the minimum amount employers must spend from their previous health care bill, which Schwarzenegger vetoed. The new plan has a sliding scale for employers, with a...

Lessen employer burden, forget selling the lottery, consider hiking tobacco tax -- Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez struck the right tone Wednesday in convening a hearing on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care proposal, which remains on life support in these waning days of this special session."I would ask you to keep in mind that there is a fair amount to praise in the governor's plan," Núñez said to his colleagues. "In fact, I would say that some of the governor's more progressive proposals haven't even been made by Democratic governors around the country." Given those words, you'd think that state leaders...

Preparations begin Wednesday for a candlelight vigil outside the Capitol by unions and other groups protesting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care plan.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to please everyone so much, he's ending up pleasing no one with his plan to guarantee health care for all Californians, largely because he wants to tax so many so much that no one wants any part of it. Mr. Schwarzenegger's plan deserves the public's disdain. When he first proposed it in January, we observed that his health care proposal "shouldn't upset anyone, except maybe doctors, hospitals, insurers, employers and employees." And so it has. Today we can add to the list California Indian tribes, who, according to the Los Angeles Times, feel the governor's brainstorm...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced a health care reform bill that he wants lawmakers to consider as they meet in special session. Schwarzenegger laid out his health reform ideas in January, but Democrats ignored his plan. Instead, they passed a health reform bill the governor says he will veto. Schwarzenegger hopes his latest effort will lead to a deal with Democratic leaders. But organized labor has been negative about the governor's approach and may pressure Democrats to vote no.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appears to be closing in on what would be a rare achievement for a Republican governor: providing universal health care coverage to his state's citizens. One possible roadblock, however: State legislators in the governor's own party are none too happy about it. Following the lead of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, Schwarzenegger appears close to striking a deal with a Democratic-controlled Legislature to make health coverage both mandatory and affordable for his state's 6.5 million uninsured. The Legislature passed a version of the plan in mid-September. Schwarzenegger vetoed it, however, citing higher-than-desired...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday that a healthcare overhaul would not be derailed by "Mickey Mouse"-type concerns about covering illegal immigrants. He also compared California's Republican Party to an obese person in denial, and predicted that Rudolph W. Giuliani would be his party's nominee for president. The comments came in an eclectic discussion with The Times' editorial board in which the governor championed his $9-billion plan to expand water storage efforts and promoted his proposal to require everyone in the state to have health insurance. --snip-- Earlier in the day, the governor -- embodying the "post-partisan" approach he has been...

"Everything is on the table," said Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday, when asked whether he would support a statewide sales tax, in this case, as part of a massive government intervention into health care in California. The Governor said that he could support placing a tax hike on the ballot on which Californians can vote. Presumably the Republican Governor, after negotiating such a "deal" for California taxpayers, would then advocate its passage as well. Shame on Arnold Schwarzenegger. I don't know how to sugar coat this, so I will just say it like it is -- he lied. He lied to me,...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ambitious proposal for universal statewide health-care coverage, announced in January, is hanging by a thread as the regular legislative session ends this week. The plan's fate could rest with California voters in a ballot initiative next year. Policy makers around the country have been watching California to see whether a way can be found to extend insurance coverage to all citizens. While Massachusetts did that last year, California has more uninsured residents than any other state, so overhauling its $200 billion health-care industry could be an important national model. But the Republican governor's $12 billion plan...

SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday he will call a special session of the state Legislature to deal with health care, as lawmakers debated a Democratic plan he has pledged to veto. The state Senate passed that plan on a 22-17 vote and sent it to the Assembly shortly after the governor announced his intention. Health care is the governor's top priority this year, and the special session would buy time for him to strike a deal with Democrats on how to cover millions of uninsured Californians. The regular legislative session is scheduled to end this week, and...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez would be courting defeat at the ballot box by bypassing Republicans with a measure to increase taxes to provide health care for uninsured Californians, Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines said Tuesday. The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday the Republican governor and Democratic speaker are fashioning a strategy to raise business and hospital taxes through a ballot measure and circumventing Republican lawmakers who oppose any new taxes. Under the scenario outlined by the newspaper, the Democrats who control the Legislature would pass a bill that doesn't include funding for health care and ask...

As time ticks down on any chance for legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to agree this year on a bill to expand access to health insurance, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is trying to turn up the heat on the governor. With a mix of legislative maneuvering, press conferences and interviews, Núñez is sending Schwarzenegger a message that the perpetually optimistic chief executive seems determined to ignore: Republican lawmakers are never going to vote for his plan. Schwarzenegger is proposing a mix of taxes and fees on employers, doctors and hospitals to subsidize insurance for those who cannot afford it. He...