Opposing view: State can't afford governor's health reform

By Rose Ann DeMoro
Sacramento Bee
January 28, 2008

When the Senate Health Committee last week finally allowed the public to hear the details of the health care deal crafted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez behind closed doors, it became apparent that the bill is staggering not because our legislators want to "do nothing," as The Bee suggests, but because the bill is collapsing on its merits on cost, quality and access. Two points of the hearing especially stand out.

First, the cold reality from the Legislative Analyst's Office that the bill is fatally underfunded and could leave the state billions of dollars in the red. We've made that error before, when the governor and Legislature rushed through the energy deregulation fiasco. Shouldn't we learn from our past mistakes? The proponents' argument could be boiled down to give us a multibillion-dollar unfunded mandate and "trust us."

Second, the telling response when Sen. Gloria Negrete McCleod, D-Chino, asked Department of Health Secretary Kim Belshé if she would want the health care coverage offered to Californians under the bill. After hemming and hawing, Belshé admitted she'd have to wait to see what the proposed benefits are.

Exactly the point. Schwarzenegger and Núñez want to force Californians to purchase insurance policies without knowing what they cover or how much they will cost.

Considering the authors' failure to levy any meaningful cost controls on insurance company price gouging, it is highly likely that the grand promises of this bill will end up in the shape of unaffordable, junk insurance plans.

Even with the subsidies, the lowest income Californians would face huge out-of-pocket costs for deductibles and co-pays, and have to pay extra for dental, vision, mental health and other essential care. The draconian choice for many could be meeting their housing cost in an imploding economy or paying for needed care.

The California Nurses Association has consistently fought for genuine reform, such as the expanded and improved Medicare-for-all single-payer approach of Senate Bill 840.

We've also supported numerous other bills to expand health coverage for children and adults that have been vetoed by Schwarzenegger.

Even now there is a reasonable short term alternative to this bad bill.

Adopt the fee on hospitals and higher Medi-Cal reimbursements proposed in ABX1 1, and use it to expand coverage for children. It's an approach that would work without putting the state in further financial free fall or exposing more families to health insecurity.