Health care funding at issue

Aurelio Rojas
Sacramento Bee

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration Tuesday called a new universal health care proposal by Democrats a "positive sign," but took issue with the funding, including a proposed $2-per-pack cigarette tax.

The tax would replace Schwarzenegger's plan to sell the rights to run the state's lottery to a private management company and use the proceeds to help finance his proposed $14 billion health plan.

"We still think that's the most viable source of those revenues," Daniel Zingale, one of the Republican governor's top advisers on health care, told reporters a day after Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, outlined the Democratic plan.