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Governor changes his tune, vetoes
statewide health insurance program
San Jose Mercury News
October 11, 2005
Editorial
So much for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's
self-styled image as guardian of California's children.
When he was running in 2003, Schwarzenegger
said in a debate, "I think it is important that we take
care of our children. And we have to make sure that every
child in California is insured. That is the most important
thing."
Friday he had the chance to make it happen,
and he whiffed. He vetoed Assemblywoman Wilma Chan's AB 772,
which would have created the California Healthy Kids Insurance
Program and given 800,000 uninsured children access to medical
care.
Santa Clara County has shown the way. A coalition
of activist groups, city and county government and health
care providers four years ago created the remarkable partnership
that is now the cost-effective Healthy Kids program, the model
for Chan's statewide plan.
Children with health insurance see doctors
and dentists more regularly, develop healthier lifestyles
and are less likely to make expensive visits to emergency
rooms. Healthy children do better in school and their parents
miss fewer days at work. The up-front investment will result
in huge savings for taxpayers in the future, besides being
simply the right thing to do.
Schwarzenegger said he vetoed the bill because
he feared it would cost the state "a half a billion
dollars a year without providing a funding source."
But the main key to Healthy Kids is getting
children signed up for insurance they're already eligible
for. The state program would have been phased in over three
years and cost closer to $20 million in the first two years,
Chan credibly argues. A companion bill, which Schwarzenegger
also vetoed, would have emulated the Santa Clara County program
in accepting private donations and seeking matching funds
from the federal government.
Schwarzenegger has no trouble raising money
for his own campaigns, and he's bragged about being the "Collectinator"
when it comes to raking in federal funds. He should have
signed these bills and resolved to lead the effort to finance
the program. That's what you'd expect of a governor who campaigned
on a promise to make children's health a priority.
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