Posted on 10/10/2007 7:00:48 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled new health care legislation yesterday that relies on leasing the state lottery to a private company to generate new revenue.
Schwarzenegger's plan to lease the lottery is considered more popular than raising the sales tax, which had been considered the most likely new funding source to expand health care.
The governor said his $14 billion proposal to cover the state's 6.5 million uninsured residents offers the best chance for comprehensive health care reform.
“We all know that the nation is watching us,” he said at a news conference yesterday.
Schwarzenegger is trying to jump-start a special session of the Legislature on health care. His new proposal is similar to his January plan, with a few changes.
Originally, Schwarzenegger wanted companies with 10 or more employees that did not provide health care to pay a fee equivalent to 4 percent of their payroll into a fund to subsidize health care.
Now, he proposes a sliding scale that generates an extra $500 million a year by applying a fee to smaller companies.
Under the new plan, companies with an annual payroll of less than $100,000 are exempt, those with a payroll of $100,000 to $200,000 pay a 2 percent fee and those with a payroll above $200,000 pay 4 percent.
His plan also would be financed by a hospital fee and extra federal money for the Medi-Cal program, which covers the poor.
Schwarzenegger also added subsidies for the working poor that provide tax credits for those who earn up to 350 percent of the poverty level if they have to spend more than 5 percent of their income on health insurance.
Under Schwarzenegger's plan, all residents have to buy health insurance.
Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a consumer group, said the governor's plan still could require those with modest incomes to spend a high percentage of their earnings on health insurance.
“I don't think we're close to a deal,” he said.
Republicans still oppose the plan. Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines of Clovis called on the Legislature to oppose government mandates and tax increases.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, issued a lukewarm statement, saying he is committed to ensuring affordability.
Leasing the lottery would require a professional management company to pay a substantial fee to the state. The state would use part of that fee to pay off economic recovery bonds and the rest to buy an annuity that would contribute about $2 billion a year for health coverage.
Schools receive $1.1 billion from the lottery. Under this plan, the schools would get the same amount of money through the general fund.
“We all know that the nation is watching us,” he said at a news conference yesterday.
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Yes, Gub, they are watching us, go deeper in debt. Yup, mighty fine example of what a Nanny State looks like ...before it crumbles.
Hey he’s only doing what any good Kennedy would do.
From last year. Still the case? If so, not hard to see why...
Funneling lottery money to private insurance cos.
That’s out of the box thinking!
/sarc
Well, I live in Upstate NY, so I can sympathize. Yeah, let’s hear it for the nanny state. Snort.
How's that working out? All we hear year after year is how under-funded our education system is.
What's next? You going to sub-lease The Lottery to put steak and lobster on every Californian's dinner table? You know millions of Californians go to bed hungry every night don't you, God....errr, I mean...Governator.
That's one, maybe two employees...goanna be a lot of companies downsizing or paying under the table.
If Kali really wants to raise money on gambling, why not just open up the licensing process to anyone who wants to submit a proposal and a bid backed by a performance bond?
The debate about the “morality” of gambling is settled when the State proclaims it holds a monopoly and begs people to play its games with State-determined payoffs. If gambling is good enough for the State it is good enough for any citizen willing to follow the rules and pay the fees.
Well, education has been expanded to two meals a day for 600,000 illegal children in LA Unified.
Fee? A Tax is a Tax, not a Fee.
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