Editorial, Opinion Piece Address Democratic Efforts To Expand Health Coverage
Two newspapers recently published an editorial and an opinion piece addressing some Democratic lawmakers' proposals to expand health coverage. Summaries appear below.
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Los Angeles Daily News: A revised proposal by Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles) for a state universal health system is "not dissimilar in principle" to a plan Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) has "indicated support for," but if Kuehl "takes her cues from the obstructionist Democratic leadership, it's likely that another year will go by without better health care for the poor," a Daily News editorial states. The editorial concludes that Kuehl should "rise above the grandstanding and the usual ultraliberal posturing to work with the governor for a plan that helps people at a cost the state can afford" (Los Angeles Daily News, 1/23).
- Chris Coursey, Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Assembly members Joe Nation (D-San Rafael) and Keith Richman's (R-Granada Hills) efforts to collaborate on "a plan to ensure that every Californian is insured -- without turning state government into everyone's insurance company" -- are "noble," columnist Coursey writes in a Press Democrat opinion piece. Although "Nation knows the fiscal and political climate in Sacramento portends rough sailing for most of [the] ideas," Schwarzenegger "might support" the proposals if Nation and Richman "can get them through the Legislature," Coursey writes, concluding that "in health care politics, any movement at all may count as a major breakthrough" (Coursey, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 1/24).