Posted on 01/30/2008 10:35:33 AM PST by SmithL
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 legislation, Assembly Bill X1 1, that the Senate Health Committee killed Monday. Until December, he had a chance to shape it, and alter its finances, in any manner he chose.
Yet instead of seizing that opportunity, Perata stalled for time, asked the Legislative Analyst's Office to further vet the health plan, and then vacillated on where he stood. Finally, on Tuesday, he announced his opposition, citing reasons that didn't seem to jibe with his past positions.
As the Senate leader noted, the LAO found risks with the health care proposal, particularly if per-person costs were to rise above $250 a month. "If premiums are higher or grow faster than projected, the program could be severely underfunded," Perata wrote in a position letter Tuesday.
Concerns about costs are legitimate, but they are not unique to AB X1 1. Medical inflation would equally threaten the solvency of Senate Bill 840, Sen. Sheila Kuehl's single-payer plan, which Perata voted for in the past. It also would have been an issue for Assembly Bill 8, a bill that Schwarzenegger vetoed last year after it sailed through the Assembly and Senate, with Perata's support.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
We get a twofer.
The SacoBee editor has his panties in a bunch due to Arnold’s inability to impose HillaryCare on California, and
peRATa gets slammed.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
What??? No free lunch? /s
“The state is now staring at a $14.5 billion budget deficit. Yet, as Perata knows, approval of the Núñez-Schwarzenegger bill might have helped the state weather this downturn. Among other things, the bill would have placed $4 billion in fees on hospitals to leverage an equal amount of federal money to cover the uninsured. Such funds would have relieved pressure on Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families programs, which are otherwise likely to get slashed with state budget cuts.”
I can only utter an hysterical laugh in response to this. We’re going to cure a $14.5 billion state deficit by imposing $4 billion in taxes on hospitals to fund health insurance for the uninsured? And this is going to help “the state weather this downturn.” I think the editors of the SacBee have graduated beyond hard drugs to some more halucinagenic narcotic that the rest of us have never even heard of.
“The state is now staring at a $14.5 billion budget deficit. Yet, as Perata knows, approval of the Núñez-Schwarzenegger bill might have helped the state weather this downturn. Among other things, the bill would have placed $4 billion in fees on hospitals to leverage an equal amount of federal money to cover the uninsured. Such funds would have relieved pressure on Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families programs, which are otherwise likely to get slashed with state budget cuts.”
I can only utter an hysterical laugh in response to this. We’re going to cure a $14.5 billion state deficit by imposing $4 billion in taxes on hospitals to fund health insurance for the uninsured? And this is going to help “the state weather this downturn.” I think the editors of the SacBee have graduated beyond hard drugs to some more halucinagenic narcotic that the rest of us have never even heard of.
—you can say that again—
It’s a reprieve for now,, if aRnie has his way, he’ll be back pushing aRnoldcare again and soon.. Like One Bill Gil..
as for peRata ,, I hope he gets peRATa gets slammered good.
Arnie can get ready for another stunning defeat next week when his lame indian gaming propositions go down in flames.
I voted no on all 4 last week (absentee) just to spite that rino as payback for the anti-family and anti-gun bills he signed recently. Whatever I can do to screw him up, I will.
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