Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: TV Ads To Oppose Governor Schwarzenegger’s Radical Health Care Reform Proposal

Appearing via video conference, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses his plan to extend health coverage to nearly all Californians, Monday, Jan. 8, 2007, during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif. Schwarzenegger, who is recovering from a broken leg, did not travel to Sacramento, under advice from his doctor. At left is Kim Belshe, secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services and Schwarzenegger health advisor Herb Schultz is seen at right.

Los Angeles Times: Flash: TV Ads to Oppose Schwarzenegger Health Plan

Inevitably, a conservative small business group is launching a TV ad to oppose Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “$1 billion tax increase” to pay for a new California health care system.

Consumer Alliance for a Strong Economy’s TV ad is here.

The 30-second ad comes one day after Schwarzenegger announced the plan, widely panned by conservatives but treated with optimism by Democrats, some big businesses, health care advocates and even HMOs. The ad was produced by the political PR firm of Gilliard Blanning Wysocki and Assoc., under the name of Consumer Alliance for a Strong Economy. The firm is co-managed by Republican consultant Dave Gilliard, who has been a frequent critic of the governor.

The ten page Governorsâ€™ Health Care Proposal is here.

A good summary of the Governor’s proposal is here.

Graphic courtesy of WSJ

Wall Street Journal: Terminatorcare

Gov. Schwarzenegger writes a prescription for disaster.

On Monday, Arnold Schwarzenegger presented his proposal for reducing the number of Californians who lack health insurance. His proposal is almost indistinguishable–except in details–from that of the Democrats who dominate the California Assembly and Senate.

The Democrats tend to favor solutions involving regulations, government spending and taxes, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata’s proposal–the main contending Democrat plan–hits the trifecta. It would require employers to provide health insurance; give them the option of paying a tax instead of providing health insurance; and increase spending by expanding both the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs, which provide care to low-income children–including children of illegal immigrants and the disabled.

Mr. Schwarzenegger’s solution hits the trifecta also. He would require employers with 10 or more workers to provide health insurance or pay a 4% tax on all wages covered by Social Security: Look for employers with 10 to 12 employees to get creative about outsourcing. And look as well, as Harvard economist Jonathan Gruber has documented, for wages to fall in firms that offer health insurance because of the mandate. Gov. Schwarzenegger would throw in a 2% tax on doctors and a 4% tax on hospitals to help fund Medi-Cal, California’s name for Medicaid. And he would expand Medi-Cal to adults earning as much as 100% above the poverty line and to children, even those here illegally, in poor and middle-income families. He hopes, by doing this, to shift $5 billion of Medi-Cal’s annual cost to the federal government.

There are two problems with such solutions. First, they infringe on economic freedom, preventing, in Robert Nozick’s phrase, “capitalist acts between consenting adults.” Second, government solutions rarely work.

Read it all…….

Real Clear Politics: Schwarzenegger’s Health Care Socialism by Ross Kaminsky

Before I get into what I hope to be a well-reasoned and economically sound discussion of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new “universal health care” plan, please bear with the following outburst: Arnold’s plan is some of the most muddle-headed, idiotic, socialist crap I have ever seen from a serious politician, much less from a Republican…..

….Health care is not a Constitutional right. It is an individual responsibility. The closer we get toward socialized medicine, the further we get from the best medical system we could have. Just imagine when California has to implement a rule like England has: A mandatory minimum waiting time for someone to see a doctor, because the government can’t afford the health care system to move any more efficiently.

The single biggest needed change to health care market which has any actual chance of taking effect is much larger deductibles and co-payments. This should be done in combination with health savings accounts so that people really feel like they are spending money when they go to the doctor or the hospital. Keeping demand under control is the real economic piece that is missing from the health care puzzle.

As long as we have politicians who believe that it is the proper role of the state to redistribute money, interfere in private contracts, and use their power to reward their favored constituencies regardless of the cost to taxpayers, we will never be safe from the dead hand of government. When even Republicans are willing to legislate as Communists (and I do not use that term as hyperbole), there is little reason to have hope.

Read it all.

Flap thinks the Governator has been talking to Uncle Teddy too much over the holiday season.

Arnold, forget about this proposal – put a fork in it!

IT’S DONE

Update: Robert Sallady over at Political Muscle finds something nefarious in the group running the ads against Schwarzenegger:

The Consumer Alliance for a Strong Economy, the front group running TV ads in the Sacramento market lambasting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new health care plan, won’t reveal its donors except to say “they are all small.” The group has been fighting to keep its financial supporters secret for years, despite efforts by lawmakers and campaign finance reformers to out them.

The Capitol has some anxiety over the ads, which ran in prominent spots on the three major networks immediately after Schwarzenegger’s State of the State speech (and continue to run on cable). The governor’s office, health care advocates and others don’t want a repeat of the PR barrage that killed HillaryCare, even though the CASE campaign seems relatively harmless at this point.

The group is run out of the Republican PR firm, Gilliard Blanning Wysocki and Assoc., and has used small TV ad buys to oppose mandatory health insurance under Proposition 72, the November 2004 referendum, and sabotage Democratic efforts to raise the minimum wage. They also wrote letters to lawmakers supporting Schwarzenegger’s workers’ compensation reform package.

Not a big deal….but obviously making the ~~Hillary~~ Schwarzenegger health care reform folks nervous in Sacramento.

Don’t worry Governor……your proposal will NOT go very far.