Michael Ramirez on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Radical Health Care Proposal
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AP: Schwarzenegger’s health plan has critics
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking on just about every major interest group in California in his audacious effort to bring universal health care to the nation’s biggest state: unions, small business, doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, conservatives.
The Republican governor unveiled a $12 billion-a-year plan on Monday to extend health care coverage to most of California’s 6.5 million uninsured and make it the second state, behind Massachusetts, to require everyone to carry insurance. Coverage for the poorest of the poor would be free; for many others, it would be heavily subsidized.
Schwarzenegger also proposed to share the sacrifice by requiring individuals, employers and health care providers to contribute to the cost, saying the program will save billions, in part by providing preventive care, which is cheaper than waiting for people to get sick and treating them in the emergency room.
“Building on shared responsibility, where everyone does their part,” the governor said, “we will fix California’s broken health care system and create a model that can be used by the rest of the nation.”
But for all his optimism, Schwarzenegger is getting some pushback. Some of those who will have to pay are opposed, or at least leery.
Economists warn the plan will expose the state to runaway costs.
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