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Sacramento
Bee
October
18, 2007
by Aurelio
Rojas
Prodded by Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of a plan backed
by Democrats to expand health care coverage, labor unions
Wednesday began 48-hour vigils around the state to oppose
the Republican governor's proposal.
The vigils, including prayer and fasting, outside the Capitol
and the governor's district offices mark a change in what
until now has been a behind-the-scenes effort by labor to
influence the debate over the 6.7 million Californians without
health insurance.
Bill Camp, executive secretary of the Sacramento
Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, said the public demonstrations
are "not
about one group or another."
"It's really about asking the leadership of our state
to put together real, affordable, quality health care that
stops the escalating costs that are strangling our business
communities and our workers," Camp said at a news conference
outside the Capitol.
But the campaign is being directed by
a prominent Democratic political consultant, Chris Lehane,
who was hired by the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.
The effort also includes the Service Employees International
Union as well as consumer and faith-based groups.
During a conference call with reporters,
federation chief Art Pulaski charged that Schwarzenegger's
plan does not "share
responsibility" -- as the governor contends -- but actually "gouges
the middle class."
"The governor may be a well-meaning man, but he has
proposed a bad plan," Pulaski said.
Schwarzenegger's
plan would require individuals to purchase health care insurance,
with the state providing subsidies for the poor. But union
leaders contend many low- and middle-income families would
still not be able to afford coverage.
Under
the plan, individuals earning more than $35,735 and families
of four making more than $72,275 would not receive subsidies,
according to a report released Wednesday by the federation.
According to the report, the governor's plan would
cost the average middle-class family between $8,100 and $13,000
a year -- forcing them to choose between financial security
or breaking the law.
Sabrina Lockhart, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger,
disputed the findings, which she said were based on "fuzzy
math" and
a plan the governor outlined in January.
That plan established
a minimum insurance level with a $5,000 deductible and out-of-pocket
limits of $7,500 per person and $10,000 per family.
Under a revised plan released last week, the governor's plan
no longer defines minimum benefits. Instead, the secretary
of health and human services would establish a minimum level,
which would cover medical, hospital and preventive and prescription
services.
But union officials said such decisions should not
be made by a political appointee who does not answer to voters.
Unions
supported Assembly Bill 8 by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez,
D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland,
which did not have an individual mandate. Schwarzenegger
vetoed the bill last week, saying it would place too much
of the economic burden on employers.
The governor's plan spreads the $14 billion cost of universal
coverage among employers, individuals, insurers, government
and health care providers.
Instead of a paying a flat 4 percent fee of their payroll,
as Schwarzenegger proposed in January, they now would pay
from zero to 4 percent, based on a sliding scale of their
revenue.
Democrats are insisting that employers pay a minimum
of 7.5 percent.
Administration officials said the governor's revised plan
is an effort to address the needs and concerns of the middle
class.
But Lehane, a former Clinton White House spokesman,
said the governor's revised plan makes health care "less
affordable."
"Everybody wants to get something done," he said. "The
question is, 'What's affordable?' The governor's plan isn't."
In
the 10 months after Schwarzenegger released his initial plan,
labor leaders generally refrained from criticizing his proposal.
Lehane said the strategy changed when it became "very
clear" the middle class would bear an "enormous
burden" under the governor's proposal.
In announcing his revised plan last week, the governor said
he expected to strike a deal with Democrats within two weeks
and begin working on placing a financing proposal before
voters on the November 2008 ballot.
But the Assembly Health
Committee has not scheduled a hearing on the governor's plan
until Oct. 31.
Some Democrats say the
Legislature -- which has been in special session for more
than a month -- may not be ready to act until it reconvenes
in regular session in January. |
