Category Archives: Health Care

Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Health Care

A preview of Republican smears, fear and deceit against universal healthcare

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((this is reprinted, with permission, from a DailyKos diary by nyceve. Nyceve is one of the most astute advocates for universal health care in the blogosphere. You can read her many thoughts on the subject here. California will be a health care battleground in 2007, so it’s important to keep the pressure on. – promoted by dday)

As I write this, the Republican governor of California lies in a hospital bed receiving V.I.P. treatment for a broken leg the result of a skiing injury suffered several days ago at his palatial estate in Sun Valley.

Schwarzenegger to undergo surgery in L.A. today on broken leg
By Peter Nicholas, Times Staff Writer
December 26, 2006

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital Sunday in preparation for surgery early this morning on his right leg – broken in a skiing accident in Sun Valley, Idaho, the governor’s office announced.

Schwarzenegger’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Kevin Ehrhart, said in a prepared statement that the surgical procedure planned for the governor was “relatively common” and was expected to last two hours.
link

Allow me to contrast the treatment Mr. Schwarzenegger  received to what you or I would get–if we were lucky, and if we had insurance.

Notice the Governor was admitted to the hospital on Sunday, which happened to be December 24th?  Now note that his surgery was actually performed on December 26th–two long days later.

You think you or I would be invited to spend two days malingering in a very expensive hospital bed if we needed orthopedic surgery?

But hey what’s ten thousand here or there, he’s the governor.

When was the last time, you knew anyone admitted to the hospital two days in advance of a surgical procedure? Doesn’t happen–unless you’re a government official–say Denny Hastert, Dick Cheney or Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Just sayin.

Mr. Schwarzenegger has said that providing healthcare to the 6.5 million uninsured Californians is a priority. He is promising that the State of the State speech will explain how he will move the Golden State closer to universal healthcare in the coming year.

The Orange County Register, lies at the heart of one of the most conservative regions in the United States, Orange County, California. Hence the series of editorials on the healthcare crisis in California becomes a delightful preview of the right wing noise machine in action. This is but a taste of what’s to come. The smears, fear and deceive campaign against universal healthcare we should expect heading into the 2008 Presidential election.  And today, the venom is directed toward the Republican governor of California.

Universal healthcare will result in huge tax increases and there is already too much regulation of the insurance and healthcare industries:

The governor should avoid any proposal that can be implemented only by imposing new taxes, which always seem to metastasize and never shrink. The current vogue among “reformers” is to tout Massachusetts’ new universal health care law, which originally was advertised to cost “only” $125 million. But soon after its adoption this year, a bond measure revealed the cost to be $276 million instead.

. . .It is the over-regulation of medical professionals, facilities, technologies and health insurance that price quality health care beyond the reach of consumers.link

Universal coverage will cause insurance premiums to skyrocket.

The governor should avoid like the plague any calls to require insurers to accept every applicant, regardless of risk. By forcing insurance companies to insure people they otherwise would not, several states devastated their markets in the 1990s. When this regulation was combined with restrictions on pricing premiums according to risk, it drove “numerous insurance carriers out of the market, and increased premiums beyond the reach of all but the wealthy,” according to “What States Can Do to Reform Health Care,” a recent book published by Pacific Research Institute.

. . .Rather than rely on more federal – or state – taxes, the governor should break away from the Nanny State mindset and work to deregulate the industry so market forces can bring costs under control. As long as someone else pays, the people selling health care, and the people receiving health care always will demand more. When the third party paying for it is the government, there is even less incentive to say “No.”

And most appalling, health care is not a right. And I fear we’ll be hearing a lot about socialism, communism, Cuba and long waiting lines.

Health care is a desirable commodity. But it’s dangerous stuff to elevate it to a “right.”Health care is a “right” in communist Cuba. And that’s one reason Cuba’s economy is abysmal. Health care is a “right” in socialized Canada. And that’s the reason in Canada treatment is rationed, and people must wait months for surgery.

As we all know, the Republican/AHIP lies and misinformation noise machine exists to maintain the for-profit status quo.

Here’s the truth about single-payer health care. You can read everything you need to know on the web site of Physicians for a National Health Plan.  link

Single-payer national health insurance is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health financing, but delivery of care remains largely private.

Currently, the U.S. health care system is outrageously expensive, yet inadequate. Despite spending more than twice as much as the rest of the industrialized nations ($7,129 per capita), the United States performs poorly in comparison on major health indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality and immunization rates. Moreover, the other advanced nations provide comprehensive coverage to their entire populations, while the U.S. leaves 46 million completely uninsured and millions more inadequately covered.

One final thought. I’d like to highlight a comment Elizabeth Edwards made yesterday.

This thread is exactly right (24+ / 0-)

Putting a face on the victims of poverty or racism is so essential. And it is, if I may say so, what John does so well: tell someone’s story, with honesty and compassion. It is what he has been doing for his adult life.

Join me at http://blog.johnedwards.com

by elizabethedwards on Thu Dec 28, 2006 at 01:37:26 PM PST

The reason I mention this is because, like John Edwards, I believe putting a human face on pain and suffering is the way to make the American people sit up and demand change.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Diaries & Misc., Health Care

Hidden Taxes and Other Fun With Names

(cross-posted from Ruck Pad)

One Arnold’s rhetorical tricks is playing around with the word “taxes”.  He signed the Grover Norquist pledge, saying he would never raise them.  However, he has raised the amount flowing out of Californian’s pockets into the state government in the form of fees.  The most well known are his increases to state tuition.  Now he is trying a new form of creative naming, this time around health care costs.

The New America Foundation released a report that exposes something Arnold is referring to as a “hidden tax”.  It is the estimated extra $1,186 that an average Californian family of four with private insurance pays in premiums to “subsidize the care of the uninsured.”  Hospitals cannot turn down someone who shows up at their ER and the costs are passed on to the consumers.  Arnold is setting the scene for a plan which would take away those costs, but would cause new “fees” elsewhere, shifting the burden.  Jordan Rau does a great job parsing the move:

Schwarzenegger’s analysis comes from a report released by the New America Foundation. But the politics of his comments are tantalizing. The governor already has declared that though he wants to help every Californian to be able to obtain health care insurance, but will not raise taxes to do so. However, IF Californians are already paying a tax by any other name through their premiums, then a number of possible solutions — such as some versions of an employer mandate to provide coverage or a requirement that individuals purchase insurance — could be argued as not raising taxes but as making people pay costs that others are now shouldering.

It’s an argument not likely to win over the anti-tax crowd, but could give Schwarzenegger some important rhetorical wiggle room for whatever plan he presents next year. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, who is expected to release his own plan shortly, immediately lauded the perspective, saying: “We certainly agree that easing the burden of the “hidden tax” — especially what responsible businesses pay when they offer insurance but their competitors do not — is a priority.”

Of course the New America Foundation issued the report to help make the case for universal health care:

Peter Harbage, one of the authors of the New America study, said the point of the study was to make sure people understand the links between the premiums paid by the insured and the costs of care to the uninsured.

“It’s easy for people who have health insurance to believe that the uninsured is a problem separate from them,” he said. “What we are trying to show is that everyone in California is already paying for the uninsured. It would be better to have a universal health care system where everyone gets coverage that is more affordable.”

A universal health care system is not where Arnold is heading.  He is simply using the study to help build his case for more “fees”.  Interestingly, the most recent major policy proposal to come out of DC on health care reform is not a universal system.  Reform and labor groups are hoping to have some sort of reform pass and move towards an universal system later.  California does not need to have the same sort of intermediary step.  We are progressive enough to push for the real thing, though Arnold is admittedly the biggest stumbling block.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Health Care

My Thoughts on Arnold’s MTP Appearance

( – promoted by SFBrianCL)

I suppose the Republican Party is putting all of its eggs in the California basket, backing a guy who dishonestly ran pretty much as a Democrat, who also can never be President under current law and admits that no change on that could possibly happen in his lifetime.  I’ll bet actual conservatives are out there thinking “With friends like these…”

So it was that the Republican nation, and Tim Russert, turned its lonely eyes to Arnold Schwarzenegger on Meet the Press yesterday, hoping to glean some kind of knowledge on how to win again.  Judging from portions of the transcript and personal experience with California, apparently the way to win is to have millions more than your opponent, and run screaming away from any conservative policy there is.

MR. RUSSERT: George Lewis, who works for NBC News, did an analysis, and he talked about the specific issues that you focused on. And let’s look at that.  “Schwarzenegger did something that is unheard of in politics these days, he said, `I messed up. I was wrong.’ And he made a hard turn to the center politically and started working with the Democrats, who control the state legislature. … The new Schwarzenegger backs stem cell research. … He also favors a measure, that was written by Democrats, to increase the minimum wage here in California and to combat global warming. So the new Schwarzenegger is a moderate.” Is that fair?

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, no, because I have always been a moderate. When I came into office three years ago, you and I talked about it then. I, I was, you know, promoting and pushing stem cell research then already, literally.  Like, I was not even in office when I was already out there campaigning for stem cell research. I think this is just a very important issue.

And we shouldn’t look at those issues as Republican issues or-vs. Democratic issues, or conservative vs. liberal. It is just-these are people’s issues.  We need to address those issues because I think that if we really promote stem cell research and fund stem cell research, I think we can find cures for very, very important-illnesses that so many millions of people are suffering from.  And I think that if it is-has to do with global warming, or if it has to do with raising the minimum wage, or if it has to do with lowering prescription drugs for vulnerable citizens-all of those things are people issues, not Democratic issues or Republican issues, and I think we were able to bring both of the parties together and accomplish all of those things.

Of course these are actually all issues that get near-universal support among Democrats, and near-universal disapprobation among Republicans, including those in Arnold’s own state legislature.  California’s State Senate and State Assembly Republicans voted for exactly zero of these proposals.  The notion that it’s now sensible and centrist to support core Democratic ideas is great news for national Democrats as a whole, and it’s simply silly for so-called “moderates” to suggest that this is where they were all along.  It’s not, and it took a “thumpin'” at the polls to get them to believe this.  It so happens that Arnold took his thumpin’ a year before Bush did, and so he saw the writing on the wall.  Without a special election, who knows?

By the way, Arnold AGAIN said that his 2005 Special Election initiatives were a big batch of “good ideas,” and since Russert probably had no idea what he was talking about, he let it go unquestioned:

MR. RUSSERT: And when you went to the people on four different voter initiatives and lost them all, and you took on the unions, you took on the Democrats, you said, “I made a mistake.”

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, the mistake was not on what we were trying to do, because we need the reforms, and I think slowly we are seeing reforms happening in California. But what was wrong in-was the approach. To go and to say to the legislators, “I give you two months, and if you don’t agree with all of those things that I put on the table here in my State of the State address, then I will go to the people.” Well, the people really, you know, rejected that. They basically have said to us, “Don’t come to us with every initiative and with every idea. You fix it in the capital. That’s why we elect you, to go to the capital, and Democrats and Republicans work together.” And that’s exactly-we all got the message.

I’d like to see him try to bust unions again through “paycheck protection,” good idea that it is.  Or to decrease teacher’s job security.  Or to give himself carte blanche to line item the state budget.  I’d really like to see how those “good ideas” fly in the state legislature.  Of course, he’s going to use redistricting as the example, and it is a needed reform, though not in the manner he saw fit to implement in 2005. 

Meanwhile, on economic issues, Arnold continued to act like a lying supply-sider and leave the crucial information out of the answer.  Again, Russert didn’t challenge this astonishing bit of ju-jitsu:

MR. RUSSERT: One of the issues that are confronting you is the continuing deficit in California and also the six million uninsured, without health insurance. The San Jose Mercury wrote an editorial on Friday and said this, “While other states have been racking up surpluses and squirreling away money, California has run up deficits and piled on debt. That can’t continue. In the latest five-year forecast, the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office projects a $5 billion deficit in the coming year and a $4 billion deficit the year after. … Now, something’s got to give – either Gov. Schwarzenegger’s vow not to raise taxes or his campaign pledges to fix health care and reform education. The latter should be the priority. He shouldn’t abandon promises on behalf of students and the [6 million] uninsured. … Schwarzenegger should swallow hard and consider taxes: either a dedicated tax, like raising the tobacco tax, or a temporary tax. … [Another] option worth exploring: expanding the sales tax to include some professional services in exchange for reducing the sales tax rate.” How do you juggle that?

GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, Tim, when I came into office, they said exactly the same thing: I got to raise taxes, I got to raise taxes, please raise taxes by at least 5 billion or $8 billion a year. And I said, “No. We’re going to stimulate the economy,” and that’s exactly what we’ve done, we’ve stimulated the economy. Now our revenues went up by $20 billion, first from 76 billion to $96 billion without raising taxes. That is the way to go. I think what we have to do in the future is, is we’ve got to go and pay down our debt, which we have been doing. And we have done a tremendous job of bringing down the structural deficit from $16 ½ billion when I took office to now $4 ½ billion. And we’re going to come down further this year and we’re going to eliminate it by next year or the year after that. I think that’s what we need to do. Never raise taxes, it wouldn’t happen. The people of California have voted “no” on all the tax increases this year, if it is the tobacco tax, if it is any kind of additional tax, everything was voted no on, including the nurses, as you remember, the nurses’ association, they have had a proposition on there to raise taxes, everything was voted no, including, including the oil tax.

You borrowed billions and billions of dollars.  That’s it.  To the extent that the structural deficit is “fixed,” which it isn’t at all, the only reason is the continued borrowing of money to finance current project.  The birth tax on Californians is astronomical.  And somehow, Russert lets him wriggle off the hook with this dishonest, ridiculous answer.  Also unmentioned is the fact that most of the “increased revenue” came in one-time tax amnesty payments from corporations who simply refused to pay their bills, a gambit largely executed by Democratic gubernatorial candidate and State Controller Steve Westly and Democratic gubernatorial nominee and State Treasurer Phil Angelides.  If corporations were made to pay their taxes to begin with instead of being bailed out by “amnesty” payments, we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are today.  Instead we’ve financed the debt through continued borrowing, all of which goes completely unmentioned.  Indeed the entire infrastructure bond scheme, which he touts the whole interview, is a gigantic bond issue.  Arnold is so eager to please that he’s kicked the can down the road on any hard choices that need to be made for the state, and the people have willingly followed him.  That’s why no taxes were approved but all bond measures were.  He’s got people believing that borrowing is magic.  It’s not.  Eventually you have to pay the investors off, with interest.  I expect ordinary people to be self-interested, and eschew additional taxation, but approve bonds in order to put questions of debt out of sight and out of mind.  I don’t expect anyone who calls him or herself a leader to do the same.  It’s political cowardice.

Arnold’s going to come hard after a health care compromise this year, as well as prison reform and redistricting.  He’ll probably pick one big thing a year and run with it until his term ends, at which point he’ll try and challenge Boxer in 2010 (he didn’t deny the rumors to Russert).  As long as we have Democratic leaders in the State Legislature who take bribes from telecom companies, he’ll probably be able to steer this course.  And certainly he’ll get nothing but big pats on the rump from the media.  This is quite the problem for the state, because clearly those of us who live here will pay for this faux-moderation with a dysfunctional debt for decades, as well as naked attempts to stifle the voices of working people and all of the other “good ideas” contained in his twisted vision of “bipartisanship.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Health Care

The End of the California Republican Party

(cross-posted at D-Day and Governor Phil)

The close of this week’s legislative session drew an unequivocal distinction between Democrats and Republicans in this state. It was not in any way a victory for bipartisanship. If it were, you would be able to find ONE Republican in the State Senate or the State Assembly who actually voted for the “cap-and-trade” greenhouse gas emissions bill. You’d be able to find more than Abel Maldonado, the only Republican in either chamber to vote to increase the minimum wage. You’d have a SINGLE Republican member of the State Assembly, and more than TWO Republican State Senators (Denham, Harman) who voted for the bill providing universal health care in California. The only “bipartisanship” on display was between a Democratic legislature who moved California forward on the big issues, and a Governor trying to save his job in an election year. In this way California is a mirror image of the country at large. In election years of the recent past, Republicans have typically thrown red meat at their base, hoping to increase turnout among conservatives to carry them to victory. California’s governor has completely abandoned that strategy, and in so doing neutured his party for decades to come.

By accepting such major legislation on global warming, on prescription drugs, on the minimum wage (although trying to steer a middle course on all, and rejecting universal health care), the governor has essentially validated that the progressive message is the right message for the state. He’s enabled Democrats to make the argument that they have the only positive message on legislative issues, that they are the only ones with any ideas to move the state ahead.

This website is about the 2006 California governor’s race. But I think it’s notable that Governor Schwarzenegger, in his desire to appeal to everyone and sell out his own party’s core principles time and again, has destroyed the CA GOP’s chances to win in 2010, 2014, 2018, and maybe beyond. There is no electable Republican in the state for the next decade and a half. Schwarzenegger is proving by his campaign that the only electable Republican is not a Republican at all, but a Republican that becomes a Democrat for three months leading up to the election. Republicans are out of touch on global warming, on health care, on wages for working families, on pretty much every major issue facing the state.

This really was not always the case here. In 1992, Bill Clinton broke a 28-year record of California voting for Republicans in the Presidential election. We’ve had a string of Republican governors and colorless technocrat Dems like Gray Davis. The changing demographics of the state and the disaster of Prop. 187 have shifted the balance. And this year’s legislative session provided confirmation that the only ideas that work in the Golden State are progressive ones.

This is where Phil Angelides comes in. He can deliver the knockout blow to the state Republican Party. If a guy who basically adopts dozens of Democratic frames can’t win, no Republican will be able to for a long time. Angelides’ Harry Truman analogy is apt: When given the choice between Democrat-lite and a true Democrat, what would you do? Take the guy who governs from the left for three months to get elected, or the guy who’s been calling for a progressive vision his entire career?

This is how the choice must be framed. This is what voters need to hear. And given those options, this can be a winning strategy that would send the California Republican Party home, licking their wounds, in a cataclysmic event that would reverberate for a long while.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Health Care

Universal Health Care bill passes legislature, Arnold to veto.

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The Assembly just passed this bill that would ensure 7 million uninsured Californians, and of course Arnold is planning on vetoing the bill without offering any solutions.

The bill would eliminate private medical insurance plans and establish a statewide health insurance system for all state residents, reports The San Francisco Chronicle. The state senate is expected to approve changes to plan and send it the Republican governor, who has expressed his opposition to a single-payer plan.

The Chronicle said the governor, however, has not offered an alternative for the state’s 7 million people who are uninsured. His office has said the governor would propose solutions in his State of the State address in January if he is re-elected.

please! I really hope nobody falls for that line, that sounds like the old bait and switch to me. Fool me once… shame on you…

I wish there was a candidate that actually believed in covering everybody, oh wait there is, his name is Phil Angelides.

And if you’d like to help him win, you can donate here on the ActBlue GovernorPhil page… let’s try to get to 100 donors!

-C.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup, California, Health Care

California Blog Roundup

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Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-11, CA-04, John Doolittle, Richard Pombo, Proposition 89, redistricting, health care, minimum wage, reform.

Governor’s Race

Jerry McNerney / Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

Charlie Brown / 15% Doolittle / CA-04

Health Care

    SB 840, a plan for universal health care, is coming up for a vote. This PowerPAC contribution explains why it’s important and has a link for you to contact your rep.

Propositions

    The Prop 89 folks are having a blast showing why clean money is necessary.

Reformalicious

The Rest

California, Health Care

Who are all these kids that don’t have insurance?

California Connected, a joint production of several PBS stations in California, aired a segment about Alex, a 4th grader living in SoCal that does not have insurance.  You can view the segment here.

There a few issues that could truly be solved in the legislature. The list is short due to the influence of Prop 13 and its supermajority tax and budget requirements.  But one area which could be immediately fixed is health care.  And such a plan is currently pending in the legislature, it’s SB 840 sponsored by Sen. Kuehl.  SB 840 would change the insurance model of California to one where the state government would be the provider.

Now some would scare you by saying that we don’t want the state to choose which procedures we could get.  But let’s think about that honestly.  Who makes those decisions now? For-profit health care companies.  Who would make those decisions under SB 840? The State?  Is the state really scarier than the private insurance companies?  DOes the state have to report increasing profits every quarter?  The answer is clear: SB 840 is the right thing to do for the state’s children.

Look for SB840 to pass the Assembly but be vetoed by the “moderate” Arnold Schwarzenegger.  His insurance contributors will make sure of that.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup, California, Health Care

California Blog Roundup for August 16, 2006

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-11, CA-04, John Doolittle, Richard Pombo, Republican corruption, Proposition 87, Proposition 89, redistricting, term limits, health care.

Governor’s Race

Jerry McNerney / Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

Charlie Brown / 15% Doolittle / CA-04

Other Republican Paragons

Health Care

Propositions

Goo-Goo Stuff

  • OK, here’s the deal. Redistricting lives for now, but won’t be combined with term limit reform.

  • The Mad Professah on the 2001 redistricting deal and reforming it. Have a read, but remind yourself that anything involving spending requires a 2/3 majority, so a gerrymander into a simple majority is nice, but not ideal.

  • Cathy Feng from Common Cause on redistricting. If people want to redistrict the state in some nonpartisan way, that’s fine (subject to endless caveats about the way it’s done), but for California to redistrict Congressional districts that way when Texas doesn’t is just stupid unilateral disarmament.

  • Oh, and term limits? Basically useless for anything except putting control of government in the hands of staff and lobbyists.

The Rest

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup, California, Health Care

California Blog Roundup for August 11, 2006

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-11, CA-04, Bill Durston, Charlie Brown, John Doolittle, Richard Pombo, Dan Lundgren, Republican corruption, Proposition 90, Proposition 89, Proposition 87, health care, global warming.

Bloggers on GovernorPhil.com

As I’m sure you know, a group of independent California bloggers (including our own sfbriancl) launched Governor Phil yesterday, to track the race and tell folks how they felt about Governor Phil (good, they feel good). Here are some bloggy reactions, in no particular order:

Governor’s Race

Jerry McNerney / Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

Charlie Brown / 15% Doolittle / CA-04

Health Care

Propositions

The Rest

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Blog Roundup, California, Health Care, Jerry Brown

California Blog Roundup, August 9, 2006

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. Teasers: Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA-11, CA-04, John Doolittle, Republican corruption, Proposition 89, Proposition 85, Jerry Brown, health care.

Governor’s Race

Jerry McNerney / Paid-For Pombo / CA-11

Charlie Brown / 15% Doolittle / CA-04

Propositions

The Rest