Schwarzenegger Health plan fails

[NGinpa]

To my mind, there are 3 broad general health reform plans floating around.

--Single payer like the Canadian system and supported by the far left.

--High deductible, less expensive insurance most likely with HSAs, which is currently the darling of the conservatives and is also often called Consumer Direct Healthcare.

--An attempt to get everyone covered under the current private insurance system but probably also with insurance reforms such as community ratings for all premiums and no prior condition exclusions. This option would have subsidies for the poor and possibly be mandated that everyone get in!

This third idea above is what is getting the most play with Massachusetts and California, as well as the 3 (now 2) Democractic candidates. Of course the Repubs want the Consumer Directed healthcare idea and the far left still wants single payer! Well this third track has been dealt a serious blow this week in CA.

Governor's health care plan fails

SACRAMENTO — A year ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger set out to show the nation that California could do what the federal government and many states could not: transform a health care system that leaves millions uninsured and countless others paying ever more for skimpier benefits.
On Monday, that dream died in a Senate committee, falling victim to a faltering economy and leaving reformers to wonder whether a historic opening was squandered. With the governor and lawmakers now focused on the state's budget woes, the next chance may be at least a year away, after the next president is inaugurated.



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Now, the next best hope for changing health care may be at the federal level. All three Democratic presidential candidates have proposed plans that mirror Schwarzenegger's in key ways. Republican contenders are pitching market-based proposals to extend insurance to more people and lower costs.

But Washington has deadlocked on health care reform for decades, and any action isn't likely until well into 2009.

Wall Street J article preview

Health Costs Hinder Overhaul
By Rhonda L. Rundle
Word Count: 606
The demise of California's proposed health-care restructuring underscores a difficulty states face in achieving universal insurance coverage: their inability to slow the upward trajectory of health-care costs, analysts said.

The defeat of the $14.9 billion bill backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is a setback for state initiatives, but doesn't necessarily damp prospects for national reform, they said. That is because California's enormous uninsured population and shaky fiscal health made it a poor prospect for change.

"The conversation in California was more about trying to find ways to pay for coverage rather than to fundamentally change ...

What we have here is primarily a budget crisis preventing the state from being able to initiate this third type of reform plan. However, the far left and the far right are likely just as happy as now nothing gets done which is different from what they really wanted. On the Federal level, it may still be able to get the third option done, but the other two above options with their supporters will still be there in the fight, possibly, no likely (IMO) leading to nothing getting done if the two sides hold their ground. Sound familiar??

[pinto]

1. It was a bad plan. Kuhl's bill, here in CA, is the right alternative.

[truedelphi]

2. Yeah I would have to say that The Plan Number Three

As described in the OP unnecessarily shackles us to the same industry that condemned many of us to death even though we were paying huge amounts of money to be insured.

The insurance industry should be glad we are not throwing their people in prison.

Caklifornia Assmebly WOman Sheila Kuehl's plan for Single Payer Universal Health care (SPHU) is the right idea.

There is no need to throw our hard earned, over taxed money into a system rewarding the criminal insurance industries by letting them skim 20% off the top.

I really think that in California, people are ready for it.

Just looking at the trends, I become convinced of that. Voting reform-wise, the people proved themselves wanting Debra Bowen over the Corporate Candidate - even though the Corporate Candidate outspent Bowen six to one.

SICKO led the way. I have arch conservative friends in Orange County who are now aware of what a FU the system is, and how SPUH care could work. Even they support it.

[Ayesha]

3. Option 4

Which for some reason nobody seems to bring up:

1. Extend Medicare to be available to all who want it, with a sliding-scale premium based on income.

2. Require that private insurance accept all applicants, regardless of pre-existing conditions, and with a premium cap.

3. Require that people choose one or the other. Let the market decide!


OR Option 5, a variation:

1. National health care, automatically provided to all

2. Private insurance is available as a supplement and provides extra benefits, such as private rooms, cosmetic procedures, etc. for those who want it and can pay for it.

Either way, we get health care for all, without upsetting the insurance companies as much, since they can still do business. Also, rich people and those who are satisfied with the private system can keep using it. Everybody wins!