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Orange County Register
November 16, 2005
By Hanh Kim Quach
SACRAMENTO--The Schwarzenegger administration
has vowed to work next year on extending health coverage to
nearly 1 million uninsured California children.
"There's a moral imperative, a
political imperative to cover our children,'' said Health
and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshe, speaking Tuesday
at a health symposium.
While the administration does not have its
own plan yet, proposals floated by lawmakers and policy think
tanks peg the cost of expanding current programs to cover
all children at up to $1.5 billion. This comes at a time when
the Legislature doesn't have enough money to continue current
programs, facing a potential deficit of $6 billion next year.
Belshe's declaration about children's health
care comes exactly one week after Schwarzenegger watched
his
"Year for Reform" collapse as voters rejected all
four of his ballot initiatives following a bruising fight
with labor unions, which opposed his measures.
Expanding state-funded health coverage is
one of the ideas Schwarzenegger's labor union opponents, particularly
the California Nurses Association, have also pegged as a priority.
"Clearly, the governor is trying
to sound popular themes, but one of the lessons that we should
learn from last week's election is that Californians want
more than bogus reform,'' said Chuck Idelson, spokesman for
the California Nurses Association.
"(There) is a crisis that goes
well beyond children in our health care system, and we believe
(the governor) should commit to providing health care coverage
to everyone.''
Belshe noted that the governor--since the
early days of the recall--has championed expanding children's
health care. She added that the state would also be using
some freed-up federal money to provide insurance coverage
to more low-income working adults.
However, the governor has also taken several
actions that prevented the expansion of health coverage.
Last year, Schwarzenegger encouraged the
repeal of SB2, which required employers--primarily in low-paying
service and manufacturing industries--to provide health coverage.
This year, he vetoed AB772, by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, which
sought to expand care coverage for poor children. The governor
said the bill didn't provide funds to pay for the program
and risked federal health dollars by allowing undocumented
immigrants to receive care.
In addition, Schwarzenegger's first budget
included unsuccessful plans to help balance the budget by
limiting enrollment in the state Healthy Families program.
What could hamper any efforts to expand health
care to any segment of the uninsured is the state's perennial
multibillion budget deficit. The most recent estimate is $6
billion, but nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill
will update the forecast today.
Belshe admits the state's fiscal problems
could make it difficult to achieve the governor's health
care goal, but "The governor has been very clear that
this is a priority. We're looking at how we can advance (it).''
Fiscal watchdog Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand
Oaks, said he would support expanding health coverage--but
the right way. That means abolishing existing programs and
giving everyone tax credits up front to pay for health premiums.
"We could actually save a considerable
amount of money...provide greater coverage at less cost than
the bureaucracy,'' he said. None of the proposals on the
table, however, resemble what McClintock has proposed.
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