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Sacramento Bee
By Clea Benson
May 9, 2006
In an attempt to pressure Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
to honor his pledge to provide health coverage
for all California children, Assembly Democrats
on Monday added $50 million for children's insurance
to next year's proposed budget.
The vote by the Assembly budget subcommittee
on health and human services means lawmakers -
and the Republican governor - will have to accept
or reject the proposal as they debate spending
for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
About 900,000 Californians under 18 are uninsured.
And only half of those children are eligible for
existing government insurance programs such as
Medi-Cal or Healthy Families.
Schwarzenegger has proposed increasing funding
in next year's $125.6 billion budget to expand
the enrollment of low-income children who already
qualify for government insurance.
But the budget proposal Schwarzenegger released
in January did not include any funds to provide
insurance to children who are not currently eligible
for Medi-Cal or Healthy Families because their
parents make too much money. Last year, Schwarzenegger
vetoed a bill written by Assemblywoman Wilma Chan,
D-Oakland, that would have created a $300 million
universal insurance program for children.
On Monday, Chan presented a revised plan that
would phase in an expansion of children's insurance
over the next three years. The subcommittee approved
it on a party-line vote of 3-1.
Bruce Li of Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance
called universal children's insurance a "worthy
goal," but said the administration opposed
making it an issue in the budget negotiations.
Schwarzenegger is scheduled to release an updated
budget proposal on Friday.
Democrats believe it is time to act on children's
insurance, Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz,
said in an interview.
"We'll never get there if we don't draw the
line and make it a goal," said Laird, chair
of the Assembly Budget Committee. "Health
insurance for all kids will pay back in better
school attendance. It will pay back in (lower)
long-term medical care (costs)."
Another source of funding for children's insurance
could become available if voters approve a new $2.60
per pack tax on cigarettes that could be on the ballot
in November. Supporters of the tobacco tax measure
say they have collected enough signatures to qualify
it for the ballot and have turned them in to the
secretary of state. |
