Governor Continues To Push for Proposed Health Care Overhaul

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) at a town hall meeting in Bakersfield on Thursday touted his proposal for overhauling California's health care system, the Bakersfield Californian reports.

The governor said, "Everybody should have access to health care." He added that the current health care system is broken.

Schwarzenegger said rising health care costs have put a financial strain on businesses and are a leading cause of personal bankruptcies.

He added that insured residents are paying a "hidden tax" of higher premiums to help cover the costs of treating the uninsured (Gerrity, Bakersfield Californian, 6/14).

Schwarzenegger's proposal is not being carried by a legislator (California Healthline, 5/23).

The San Diego Union-Tribune published two opinion pieces on whether states should require all residents to obtain health care coverage. Summaries appear below.

• Merrill Matthews, San Diego Union-Tribune: "States need to know that there are easier, less costly and less punitive ways to cover the uninsured" than imposing an individual mandate, Merrill Matthews, director of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance, writes in a Tribune opinion piece. Matthews proposes "targeted solutions that help the temporarily uninsured, provide health coverage for the uninsured who have chronic medical conditions and provide alternatives for young people who often don't see the need for insurance"(Matthews, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/15).
• Robert Moffit, San Diego Union-Tribune: "All adults have a responsibility to buy their own health insurance, pay their own health care bills and not shift those costs to others," Robert Moffit, director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, writes in a Tribune opinion piece. "No one has the right to increase the existing burdens on individual taxpayers," according to Moffit. He concludes, "People should have the personal right to self-insure, but they also have the personal responsibility to pay their own medical bills" (Moffit, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/15).

KPCC's "KPCC News" on Thursday reported on health care reform proposals by Schwarzenegger and Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Los Angeles). The segment includes comments from:

• Schwarzenegger;
• Kuehl; and
• Filmmaker Michael Moore (Small, "KPCC News," KPCC, 6/14).