Schwarzenegger's health plan criticized

Schwarzenegger's health plan criticized

	Published : Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:14 By : Agencies Print this Story

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The Democratic mayors of Los Angeles and San Francisco added their voices Wednesday to labor's campaign to portray Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health reform plan as unaffordable to middle-class people.

Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and Gavin Newsom of San Francisco criticized the governor's proposal in a letter to Schwarzenegger that the unions released during a legislative hearing.

The governor's administration is fighting with unions for the upper hand in the health care debate, as both sides seek to influence Democratic lawmakers.

With no chance of GOP support for a major health coverage expansion, the governor hopes the majority Democrats will endorse his plan. It would cover most of California's 4.9 million uninsured and stop insurers from rejecting people for medical reasons.

'The status quo is not acceptable or sustainable,' said Kim Belshe, Schwarzenegger's Health and Human Services secretary. 'The cost of inaction is high, both in human and in financial terms.'

The governor's strategy is to pass his plan in a conceptual form, then take it to the voters to approve as yet unspecified new taxes to help fund it. The total cost, including increased federal assistance, is $14 billion.

But Democrats -- and their union allies -- are leery of Schwarzenegger's insistence that health insurance be mandatory. The governor says his plan is affordable because it offers subsidies and tax credits to those earning up to 350 percent of the federal poverty level -- about $36,000 for a single person and $72,000 for a family of four.

Under Schwarzenegger's plan, half the uninsured would get free care through expanded government programs or low-cost insurance through a state-run pool, Belshe said.

But unions say that is not enough. They want to force employers to spend more on health insurance.

At Wednesday's hearing, lawmakers worried the governor's plan would force people to buy health plans, without capping what insurance companies could charge. Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, said the state might run out of money to pay for the coverage expansion, given how fast medical costs are rising.

'I think this could end up costing more than you are estimating,' he said.

But Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who sponsored a Democratic health plan that Schwarzenegger vetoed and has taken the lead in health negotiations, said he was still optimistic.

'I'm not looking to see the governor's plan today carved up like a jack-'o-lantern,' said Nunez, D-Los Angeles. 'I believe there is still a deal here to be made.'