California Endowment President Addresses Health Care ‘Crisis’ in Opinion Piece
"The health care crisis rumbling through California has extended its reach beyond low-income, working families," Robert Ross, president and CEO of the California Endowment, writes in a San Francisco Chronicle opinion piece, noting that safety net health care facilities statewide "are weighing service cuts and layoffs." Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) fiscal year 2004-2005 budget proposal could result in the loss of health coverage for as many as 350,000 California residents, Ross writes, adding that a "push by business to overturn SB 2," which mandates employer-sponsored health coverage for some employers by 2006, does not "bode well for the future of employer-based coverage, either." Ross writes, "It's just a matter of time before these short-term savings result in the economic collapse of an already fragile public health system." He concludes, "With an uncertain future threatening the health security of millions of Californians, the necessary political will of our nation's leaders to secure health coverage for all cannot come too soon" (Ross, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/22).
Additional information on SB 2 is available online.