Governor's health care plan receives a checkup
Aurelio Rojas
Sacramento Bee
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's universal health care plan finally received a hearing in the Legislature on Wednesday – 10 months after he unveiled it amid much pomp – and was greeted with bipartisan skepticism.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, hailed the hearing before the Assembly Health Committee "as an historic opportunity" to "engage Californians in a more positive attitude about the work that we do."
But the six-hour hearing, which included a two-hour presentation by Kim Belshé, Schwarzenegger's secretary for health and human services, reaffirmed that both Democrats and Republicans remain opposed to major provisions of the plan. [...]
The governor's plan, she said, "does not expressly require employers to provide coverage." They would have the option of contributing to a state-run insurance pool – and the fee would be zero to 4 percent of payroll.
"We believe the governor's plan – with the lower fee on the sliding scale – strengthens California in terms of any possible (court) challenge," Belshé said.
But Democrats want employers to contribute at least 7.5 percent of their payroll to health care. They note employers who currently provide coverage pay more than 13 percent, on average.
Bill Dombrowski, chief executive officer of the California Retailers Association, said businesses support the governor's proposal. "We urge you not to follow the tried-old method of 'Once again, let's look at the employers,' " he said.
But Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said families at the low end of the middle class would face an unfair burden under the governor's fee structure.
"With an employer mandate of no more than 4 percent, the employer's portion for a family of three earning $60,000 a year is going to be $2,400 and the balance on the employee's is probably going to be $7,600," Leno said.
November 1, 2007 at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Blog Reactions
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