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SACRAMENTO - Armed with a new report showing big savings and backed by the Legislature's two leaders, a Democratic lawmaker announced plans Wednesday to reintroduce her bill to create a universal health care system that would cover all Californians. The study by the Lewin Group, a Virginia consulting firm, predicts the legislation would save California $343.6 billion in health care costs over the next 10 years, mainly by cutting administration and using bulk purchases of drugs and medical equipment. The study was paid for by Health Care for All - California, a nonprofit group that supports universal coverage. The bill's...

SACRAMENTO -- A state Web site Tuesday reported a come-from-behind victory for the Nov. 2 ballot measure that requires large and midsize employers to help pay for employee health insurance, but officials said the results were probably in error. Caren Daniels-Meade, a spokeswoman for the secretary of state's office, said one of the counties reporting late vote totals probably reversed its results. "It's been known to happen," she said. Proposition 72 was trailing 51 percent to 49 percent on election night, but the secretary of state's Web site late Tuesday listed the final results as 50.5 percent for the measure...

Late ballots appear to make measure requiring health insurance coverage a winner. But a clerical error may be responsible, officials say. SACRAMENTO — The fate of a statewide proposition mandating health insurance coverage — assumed to have been defeated in the Nov. 2 election — was thrown into confusion Tuesday night after the secretary of state's office reported that late-counted ballots had given Proposition 72 a narrow margin of victory. But state elections officials, who had posted the results on the secretary of state's website after the close of business Tuesday, removed them a few hours later, fearing that a...

SACRAMENTO -- A ballot measure that would have required some employers to pay the bulk of workers' health insurance was narrowly defeated, election officials said Wednesday after the final results were tallied. Proposition 72, which was opposed by business leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, failed 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent, the secretary of state's office reported. The measure was defeated by a margin of 202,854 votes. Counties had until Tuesday to count absentee and provisional ballots and turn in the results to state election officials. The measure would have fundamentally reworked California's health care system by requiring some businesses to...

If you live in CA, you should vote NO on Prop. 72...This proposition is a step towards socialized medicine. I have seen both pro and con ads on TV. Gov. Arnold stated his opposition... I found one pro 72 ad to be really annoying. This ad criticizes Wal-Mart for not providing health care to many of its employees. According to the ad, taxpayers picked up the cost of health care for Wal-Mart employees. The ad is designed to stir up "class warfare", like when Democrats accuse "wealthy" of not paying enough taxes. The ad states that Prop 72 will make...

We hope voters realize that passage of Proposition 72 would be a large step toward a socialized medicine system and that experiences in other states with similar approaches, though examples are few, have not worked well. If Prop. 72 passes, employers with 200 or more employees would be required starting in 2006 to provide health insurance to employees and dependents, or pay into a "State Health Purchasing Program." Beginning in 2007, employers with 50 to 199 employees would have to provide insurance to all employees only. Two states have enacted systems similar to what Prop. 72 would impose. In 1988,...

Albert Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again, each time hoping for a different result. Apparently accepting that definition as a way of doing business, our state Legislature has excelled at repeating the same failed missteps, oblivious to the damage inflicted on California, whose well being it is charged to protect. In 2003, faced with an enormous budget deficit and an unprecedented flight of businesses, capital and people from the Golden State, the Democratic majority in Sacramento performed the legislative equivalent of dousing a fire with gasoline and passed Senate Bill 2, imposing a...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Angering environmentalists and consumer groups, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sided Friday with his business allies and announced his support for Proposition 64 and his opposition to Proposition 72. Meanwhile, state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi endorsed Proposition 72, calling it "an important step" toward providing health insurance for all Californians. Proposition 64 would limit use of the state's Unfair Competition Law to sue businesses for practices that would allegedly give them an unfair advantage over their competitors or defraud consumers. Supporters, which include a long list of major corporations, say it would prevent law firms from filing "shakedown lawsuits"...