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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday laid out a sweeping proposal to extend health coverage to nearly all of California's 6.5 million uninsured people, promising to share the cost among businesses, individuals, hospitals, doctors, insurers and government. The plan contains elements that are likely to provoke opposition from a wide range of powerful health care interests, including doctors, hospitals and insurers, as well as employers and unions. But it also contains carrots for each of them. All Californians will be required to have insurance, and all but the smallest businesses will have to offer it to their workers. Insurers will no...

<p>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has vowed not to increase taxes, contends the money raised from employers, doctors and other stakeholders to pay for the sweeping health care plan he introduced Monday is technically not a tax.</p> <p>But Schwarzenegger's fellow Republicans in the Legislature, his allies at the California Chamber of Commerce and doctors maintain that it is.</p>

Schwarzenegger: Everyone must have health insurance GOVERNOR UNVEILS PLAN TO OVERHAUL HEALTH CARE By Steven Harmon MediaNew Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a sweeping $12 billion health care plan today that would require all Califonrians to have health insurance. In remarks that he delivered by video conference from Los Angeles, Schwarzenegger insisted covering all Californians was the key to lowering the exploding costs of health care. ``We pay higher deductibles, higher cost for treatment, higher premiums and higher co-pays,'' he said. ``Prices for health care and insurance are rising twice as fast as inflation, twice as fast...

This Monday at 1:30pm, members of the Governor's Administration will host a live video web discussion with stakeholders and members of the public.

Even before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger formally unveils his health care plan Monday, fellow Republicans in the Legislature are vowing to block any plan that provides coverage for illegal immigrants. Advocates who have been briefed say Schwarzenegger will propose that all children have insurance as part of his plan to increase access for the 6.5 million Californians without insurance. Richard Brown, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, which compiles the most authoritative count on the uninsured, estimates 13 percent of the 1.1 million children without insurance are illegal immigrants. So a budget stalemate could be looming before the...

We share Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's hope to insure California's kids. Whether they are in this nation illegally or not, minors deserve coverage for this reason alone: They're children. Denying youngsters true access to the health care system - not just swelling emergency rooms - because of decisions made by their parents is cruel. And costly. Preventive care, paid by that proverbial ounce, is less expensive than emergency care paid in pounds of taxpayer flesh. We understand that some of the uninsured are here illegally, and that's wrong, but most of the time immigration decisions are made for them by their...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose that all Californian children, including those in the state illegally, be guaranteed medical insurance as part of the healthcare overhaul he intends to unveil next week, according to officials familiar with the plan. If enacted by the Legislature, his proposal would affect about 763,000 children who now lack insurance. Although the administration has not revealed details of how it would pay for such a program, officials estimate that extending insurance to all children could cost the state as much as $400 million a year. That would be a small piece of Schwarzenegger's stated...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will call for universal insurance for California children in the health care proposal he unveils next week -- but isn't likely to suggest a way to pay for it, advocates who have been briefed on the plan said Wednesday. Of the approximately 6.5 million uninsured in California, about 800,000 are under 18. The governor's plan would cover those children by expanding eligibility for current government health insurance programs, said Jim Keddy of PICO California, a group that is among many lobbying for children's coverage. When he delivers a "state of health care" speech on Monday, the governor...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that his proposal for reforming California's health care system will not include new taxes, but he did not rule out considering legislative proposals that do. "I'm not telling you now what I would or would not consider," the governor said during a media availability at a Los Angeles hospital when he was asked whether he would approve a solution that included a tax increase.

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's team of health care consultants prepares a plan for overhauling California's $200 billion health care industry, administration officials say the governor is willing to consider all solutions -- including those that may be unpopular with the governor's allies in the business community. Though employer groups vociferously oppose requiring businesses to cover their workers, the governor's staff says that could be a part of his proposal. "Everything is on the table," Schwarzenegger's communications director, Adam Mendelsohn, said last week. Schwarzenegger actively worked in 2004 to repeal Senate Bill 2, a state law requiring big employers to provide...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said for the first time Sunday that the goal of his health care reform package includes extending coverage to all 6.7 million uninsured Californians. In an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Schwarzenegger again ruled out the possibility of raising taxes to pay for health care expansion and said the cost of services must be brought down. The governor's comments represent a significant advance in expectations for his health care initiative that began in earnest only a few months ago and so far remains largely a work in progress. "This is the year where Democrats...

Health care is developing as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's major policy aim for 2007. Already, on Nov. 15, he called for halving the state's estimated 6 million uninsured residents to "show the rest of the nation that it can be done." The governor has not announced details, but the Nov. 19 Los Angeles Times reported that his plans "are still being formulated by a special team of advisers." This could mean that health care will be a central theme in his State of the State address in January, which he has used to unveil new efforts – such as his 2005...

A task force established by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to draft a plan for dealing with skyrocketing health costs in California is considering calling for repeal of some treatment mandates on health maintenance organizations. Administration aides said the proposal -- which would require approval by the Legislature -- is one of many under consideration as part of the long-awaited plan the Republican governor says he will unveil in his State of the State speech in January. "Right now, the administration is combing through hundreds of ideas and concepts," said Adam Mendelsohn, the governor's communications director. "No idea is in, no idea...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, drawing on his beliefs about fitness and personal responsibility, will make breaking the poor health habits of Californians a component of his much-anticipated health care agenda. From too much junk food and too little exercise to missed doctor visits, Schwarzenegger wants to get serious about shaping up California. Although debate continues internally about how the administration would encourage participation, officials said Friday that Schwarzenegger wants his health care agenda to address not just cost and coverage issues but also disease prevention. "The governor has always been a firm believer that at the core of solving...

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promises comprehensive healthcare reforms but says he's saving the details for after the election. Critics say the governor's opposition to Democratic proposals and his failure to offer solutions of his own do not bode well for a second term. But on Friday, in a Fox News interview, the governor said: "We are going to go and do everything that we can to reform healthcare, to provide healthcare for everyone in California." (snip) Schwarzenegger has tapped healthcare policy experts to help draft a reform plan, with the idea of laying out the particulars next year in his...

As Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger looks toward a second term, he has vowed to make access to health care a top priority. Schwarzenegger intends to unveil a major health-care plan in January, if re-elected. In preparation, Schwarzenegger has hired a top-level staff to actually write the proposal that includes ranking health-care experts from former Gov. Gray Davis' administration. Richard Figueroa, a veteran health-care consultant and go-to person for health issues on Davis' executive staff, is joining Schwarzenegger's team next week, according to Capitol and private sources with direct knowledge of Figueroa's new position. They confirmed that Schwarzenegger intends to release...

As Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, looks toward a second term, his administration has vowed to make access to health care a top priority. The govenror hopes to unveil a major health-care plan that he hopes to unveil in January if he is re-elected. In preparation, Schwarzenegger has hired a top-level staff to actually write the proposal that includes ranking health-care experts from former Gov. Gray Davis' administration. Richard Figueroa, a veteran health care consultant and go-to person for health issues on Davis' executive staff, will join Schwarzenegger's team next week in the Department of Managed Health Care, according to Capitol...

But is California's governor really a closet Democrat? The question has been raised by journalists and conservative critics, who never tire of taking note of Schwarzenegger's politically assertive wife, his hiring of Democratic aides, his liberal social values, his championing of public works projects and, of late, his compromises with the Legislature's Democratic leadership on a minimum-wage hike, mandatory prescription drug discounts and a measure to fight global warming. To attempt to answer that question is not to end a conversation but to begin it. Schwarzenegger routinely sides with business and asserts quasi-libertarian views on individual freedom. When the governor...

SACRAMENTO - Siding with Wal-Mart and other large employers, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday vetoed legislation that would have required they provide health care benefits for their employees or pay into a state health fund. In a veto message, Schwarzenegger said the bill was the wrong approach to tackling spiraling health care costs. "Singling out large employers and requiring them to spend an arbitrary amount on health care does nothing to lower costs or guarantee that even one more person has health care coverage," Schwarzenegger said. Supporters had argued the bill was needed to prevent companies with at least 10,000...

I commend Sen. Sheila Kuehl's commitment and dedication to providing health care coverage for all Californians, but I must veto Senate Bill 840 because I cannot support a government-run health care system. Socialized medicine is not the solution to our state's health care problems. This bill would require an extraordinary redirection of public and private funding by creating a vast new bureaucracy to take over health insurance and medical care for Californians – a serious and expensive mistake. Such a program would cost the state billions and lead to significant new taxes on individuals and businesses, without solving the critical...

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Tuesday that he will veto a universal health care bill that is headed for his desk, claiming the measure would set up a "vast new bureaucracy" that would be too expensive. The Republican governor said the single-payer system proposed by Sen. Sheila Kuehl would "cost the state billions and lead to significant new taxes on individuals and businesses, without solving the critical issue of affordability. "I won't jeopardize the economy of our state for such a purpose," the governor said in a statement. Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, said Schwarzenegger's comments indicated he "has not read the...

SACRAMENTO - Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are close to an agreement on a deal that would impose sanctions on prescription drug companies that fail to offer discounts to the poor, both sides said Tuesday. The governor's office said negotiations were continuing and would not confirm the specifics of the deal. But Democrats said drug companies would have three years to comply voluntarily or face being taken off the preferred drug list used by Medi-Cal, which provides about $4 billion in drugs annually to poor and elderly people. "It looks like we might have an agreement that would provide broad...

It seems Arnold Schwarzenegger can’t get enough of the liberals. From expanded health-care programs at grade school levels to lowering health-care costs and reducing the number of uninsured Californians, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is wooing liberal voters. He has also heaped praise on Al Gore's global warming movie, which should serve the Republican governor well in this otherwise eco-centric, deep blue state. Facing state Treasurer Phil Angelides, his ultra-liberal opponent in the November election, Schwarzenegger is casting his net in a leftward direction. The Los Angeles Times reports that Schwarzenegger aides say the governor is seeking to respond to critics who...

LOS ANGELES - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order Monday asking state department heads to develop plans for spending $240 million creating electronic medical records for rural communities and health safety-net providers. The order also seeks ideas on developing public-private partnerships to improve information technology for hospitals, doctors and other health care providers. The governor made the announcement at a health summit in Los Angeles where he brought together leaders from business, labor unions, universities and patient advocacy groups to explore ways to lower health care costs and insure more people. Schwarzenegger also announced he wants to create new...

Lowering health care costs and reducing the number of uninsured Californians will be top priorities for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007, if he wins his re-election fight this fall. With those goals in mind, the governor will convene an invitation-only summit today to pick the brains of labor leaders, business executives and elected officials. The governor "cares passionately" about covering more people and lowering health care costs, said his health secretary, Kim Belshé. In advance of the summit, Belshé announced Saturday that the administration now supports a drug-discount plan for 5 million Californians who earn up to three times the...

Criticized for failing to offer substantial remedies for California's healthcare problems, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today will propose installing new medical clinics in as many as 500 elementary schools, his aides said. The multimillion-dollar plan is related to an election-year decision by the Republican governor to embrace healthcare as an issue. Schwarzenegger's aides said he also hopes to propose ways to cut medical costs industrywide. California already has 140 school medical clinics. Schwarzenegger would add to those and use them, in part, to enroll more children in government insurance programs such as Healthy Families and Medi-Cal, which are used by low-income...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration on Saturday defended his proposal requiring drug companies to give discounts to up to five million uninsured, low-income residents within five years or face state sanctions. California Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe said the Republican governor's election-year plan was better than Democratic bills he has vetoed the last two years. Schwarzenegger has unsuccessfully pushed a voluntary plan since taking office, and the one he formally announced Saturday gives drug companies five years to comply on their own terms - with a stick at the end if they don't, Belshe said at a Capitol news...

SACRAMENTO Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose a new plan Saturday requiring drug companies to give discounts to low-income residents within five years or face state sanctions, Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe said Friday. The plan is similar to Democratic proposals the governor has rejected in the past. Under the new proposal, drug companies would have five years to offer discounts to people who earn less than three times the federal poverty level, or about $60,000 a year for a family of four. Companies that do not cooperate could be cut out of the state's Medi-Cal program, which provides...