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California Plan for Health Care Would Cover All
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 8 — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday proposed extending health care coverage to all of California’s 36 million residents as part of a sweeping package of changes to the state’s huge, troubled health care system.
A total of 6.5 million people, one-fifth of the state’s population, do not have health insurance, far more than in any other state. At least one million of the uninsured are illegal immigrants, state officials say.
Under Mr. Schwarzenegger’s plan, which requires the approval of the Legislature, California would become the fourth and by far the largest state to attempt near universal health coverage for its citizens. The other three states are Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont.
The governor outlined his proposal to an audience of health care experts and reporters via satellite from Los Angeles. He made it clear that a variety of mechanisms would be used to provide all Californians with insurance and that the responsibility of providing it would fall on the government, employers, health care providers and the uninsured themselves.
The plan, which Mr. Schwarzenegger estimated would cost $12 billion, calls for many employers that do not offer health insurance to contribute to a fund that would help pay for coverage of the working uninsured. It would also require doctors to pay 2 percent and hospitals 4 percent of their revenues to help cover higher reimbursements for those who treat patients enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.
“Everyone in California must have health insurance,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said.
As he made his proposal, the federal government announced that health care spending in 2005 showed the slowest growth in six years. [Page A13.]
Mr. Schwarzenegger’s plan includes elements that quickly provoked opposition from many powerful interests, including doctors and the governor’s Republican colleagues in the Legislature.
But the speaker of the State Assembly, Fabian Núñez, a Democrat, said in a statement, “I’m glad the governor is on board with coverage for all kids.”
Over the last two years, state legislatures have grown increasingly concerned with how to provide health insurance to citizens as the number of employers offering coverage has fallen and the number of workers entering fields where health insurance is not an option has grown.
Because of its great size, California is likely to set the stage for a national conversation about health care this year.
“This is a very significant proposal,” said Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation. “It is not just children he is talking about. It is really dealing with the whole problem of the uninsured, with concrete positions to raise revenues to pay for that coverage, and the philosophy of shared responsibility. I think this shows health care is going to be a major issue in the 2008 presidential election.”
In many ways, Mr. Schwarzenegger’s proposal mirrors the plan in Massachusetts, the most comprehensive of its sort, which is projected to cover about 515,000 of the state’s 550,000 uninsured. The law enacted there transformed a $1 billion pool that had long paid for health care for uninsured patients into a mechanism to help subsidize insurance for those who could not afford it.
In many states, spending on Medicaid, the federal government’s health program for the poor, has surpassed that for education in recent years. In New York, Gov. Eliot Spitzer has vowed to insure all the state’s children and enroll all eligible adults in Medicaid. And New Jersey is among a handful of states considering some form of universal coverage.
Under Mr. Schwarzenegger’s proposal, Medi-Cal would be extended to adults who earn as much as 100 percent above the federal poverty line and to children, regardless of their immigration status, living in homes where the family income is as much as 300 percent above that line, about $60,000 a year for a family of four. Medi-Cal is currently limited to adults with children, and children with documented residency are covered if their family’s income is up to 250 percent above of the poverty line.
Adult illegal immigrants would continue to be barred from Medicaid benefits but would still be entitled to health services from their counties and the state’s hospital system.
Employers would have new responsibilities as well. Businesses with 10 or more workers that choose not to offer coverage would be required to pay 4 percent of their total Social Security wages to a state fund that would be created to subsidize the purchase of coverage by the working uninsured. The cost of such coverage would be measured on a sliding scale depending on what an employee earned, and employees would be able to pay for it using pretax dollars.
This component seems intended to give employers an incentive to offer health insurance, and to level the playing field between employers that do not offer insurance — and are therefore essentially paying lower wages — and those that do.
“If you look at where the uninsured lie,” said Laura Tobler, a health policy analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures, “most of them are working, and most work for small businesses.”
On the provider side, the governor’s plan contains privileges and responsibilities. Doctors and hospitals, which have long complained about Medi-Cal’s low reimbursement rates, would benefit from a $4 billion increase in annual reimbursement. But the state would tax doctors 2 percent of their total revenues, and hospitals 4 percent, to help pay for the greater reimbursement.
The proposal would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage to people because of their age or health status. They would also be required to put 85 percent of their profits directly into health care services.
Aides to the governor said financing for the program would come from roughly $5 billion in federal money the state believes it will be owed through restructuring of its health care programs, and through a redirection of state money that now goes toward what is basically charity care, among other measures.
The chief executive of Blue Shield of California, Bruce G. Bodaken, described what might happen once the Legislature began to debate the governor’s proposal.
“Taking each part separately, there’s something for everyone to hate,” Mr. Bodaken said. “But taken as a whole, there’s a lot to like.”
The governor’s plan signals a growing trend among state legislatures. “What we are seeing this year,” said Enrique Martinez-Vidal, acting director of the State Coverage Initiatives, a program that assists states looking to expand health care programs, “is that instead of just trying to take on reform in an incremental way, there are some states trying to do this in a comprehensive way, by trying to get buy-ins from all the different players.”
But it is likely to set Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, on a collision course with many state lawmakers from his party, who are the minority in the Legislature.
“Some of the areas he put out there we are probably not going to support,” said State Senator Dick Ackerman, the minority leader. Among his concerns, Mr. Ackerman said, were the coverage of illegal immigrants, which he said his members would not support, and a tax on doctors or providers.
“We don’t think taxing folks is something that is popular in California,” he said in a telephone interview from Sacramento. “But this isn’t going to be an up-or-down vote on one bill. It will be a debate. And we welcome it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/us/09calif.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th
good quote :)
that's the truth!
Nice to hear about someone with integrity.
Happy Birthday!
Have a great day and a fabulous year!
speaking of prerequisites for the presidency...
Jon Stewart on the Daily Show asked three questions...
are you over 35?
where you born in the US?
have you alrealdy served as President for 8 years?
anyone who can answer yes to the first two and no to the last question qualifies... kinda scary.
not another NOLIB board ROFL!
nice quotes :)
I only wonder what his hidden agenda is... a leopard doesn't change it's spots
Thanks :) Happy New Year to you too!
hilarious coming from el Busto himself.
funny how the economy is growing yet the average worker is making less... busheconomics
lol... shows what I know about Diamond mining :)
I didn't know there were Diamonds in Canada :)
Salary Outlook 2007
Once Again, Real Pay Will Only Tread Water
by John Rossheim
Monster Senior Contributing Writer
With stock indexes reaching all-time highs in 2006, won't there be something for employees to get excited about as they open their 2007 paychecks? Not unless they're executives, who, as usual, will do better.
Base pay for the average worker, projected to increase 3.7 percent or so, will be basically flat after discounting for inflation, according to a consensus of salary surveys. And performance-based bonuses -- these days an anticipated financial shot in the arm for most of us, not an extra -- aren't expected to increase substantially.
"We've seen no real wage gains for most Americans over the past few years," says Sylvia Allegretto, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. "It looks like inflation might be 4 percent in 2007, so if workers get a 3.5 percent increase, they're still falling behind. The economy's expanding, workers are extremely productive, profits are at record highs, but from 2000 to 2005, real earnings were down about 3.5 percent."
It's no help that in the second half of 2006, economic growth slowed significantly. "The construction and housing bubble has been pricked, if not deflated," says Joseph Kilmartin, director of compensation at Salary.com.
...continued...
http://featuredreports.monster.com/newyear/2007-salary/?WT.mc_n=MNL000283
lol...
I think I paid to rent that movie.
I also saw Blood Diamonds over the holiday. Thought it was very well done... good story line... Dicaprio was good. Although I may never buy another diamond.
Sounds exciting. You'll have to keep us posted on your plans.
Dream Girls
I thought this movie would be fun, but it was more than that... several fabulous performances! One of the few times I've heard the movie theater audience applauding during the movie.
Hope you all had a great holiday and have a wonderful new year!!!
planning a trip to south america?
Inhofe... a glimpse
glad he's being replaced...
Political views
Inhofe is one of the most politically conservative members of either house of Congress; among other political stances, he strongly opposes abortion and gay rights. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, he was among the panelists questioning witnesses about the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse. There he made news by claiming he was "outraged by the outrage" over the revelations of abuse, suggesting that shock at the crimes was more offensive than the crimes themselves. He has also criticized the Red Cross as a "bleeding heart." Against the wishes of the Bush administration, the Pentagon, and the American Petroleum Institute, Inhofe has persistently blocked American ratification of the international Convention on the Law of the Sea, claiming that the treaty would infringe on American sovereignty.
[edit] Interrogation of detainees
In 2006, Inhofe was one of only nine senators to vote against Senator John McCain's amendment to the 2006 appropriations bill banning torture on individuals in U.S. Government custody. [4][5][6][7]
[edit] U.S. support for Israel
In a Senate speech, Inhofe said that America should base its Israel policy on the text of the Bible:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_M._Inhofe
sounds good to me. I like that Barbara is leading that committee... she is no nonsense.
did you notice who sponsors the info at the "Climate" link on that page? Chevron.
Hope you are feeling better :)
welcome to the board :)
monsters & critics? I'm trying to find some info on who owns and controls that site and am not having much luck...
strange title for a book about cyber space
Alps are warmest in 1,300 years
By VERONIKA OLEKSYN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Dec 5, 10:29 AM ET
VIENNA, Austria - Europe's Alpine region is going through its warmest period in 1,300 years, the head of an extensive climate study said Tuesday.
"We are currently experiencing the warmest period in the Alpine region in 1,300 years," Reinhard Boehm, a climatologist at Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics said.
Boehm based his comments on the results of a project conducted by a group of European institutes between March 2003 and August 2006. Their aim was to reconstruct the climate in the region encompassing the Rhone Valley in France to the west, Budapest, Hungary to the east, Tuscany, Italy to the south and Nuremberg, Germany to the north over the past 1,000 years.
Boehm said the current warm period in the Alpine region began in the 1980s, noting that a similar warming occurred in the 10th and 12th centuries. However, the temperatures during those phases were "slightly under the temperatures we've experienced over the past 20 years."
Humans first had an impact on the global climate in the 1950s, Boehm said, noting that at first, the release of aerosols into the atmosphere cooled the climate. Since the 1980s, however, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane have warmed it up, he said.
"It will undoubtedly get warmer in the future," Boehm said.
Sponsored by the European Union, the project sought to homogenize climate data collected in the Alpine region over the past 250 years. Climate reconstruction focused on seven parameters, including temperature, sunshine periods and cloud cover. Tree rings and ice core measurements were also taken into consideration.
The unseasonably warm weather this autumn has caused concern in Austria's ski resorts, where slopes are still largely covered in green grass instead of snow. Many, such as St. Anton am Arlberg, have had to postpone the start of their skiing season and some have tried attracting tourists with alternative programs, such as hiking.
Austrian ski resorts usually open at the end of November or early December.
Wilma Himmelfreundpointner, deputy director of the St. Anton Tourist Office, said the resort has the capability to cover 80 percent of its slopes with fake snow. But the current mild temperatures and sunshine make that an impossible option at the moment, she said.
"What can you do? One can't change the weather," Himmelfreundpointer said, adding some tourists go on day trips to nearby glaciers in order to ski.
In some cases, organizers have had to be creative to make sure their events take place as planned.
In Hochfilzen, Tyrol, organizers of an upcoming international race went to the Grossglockner — Austria's highest mountain — to get snow they needed to prepare their track.
It took about five days to truck between 7,000 and 8,000 cubic meters (9,200 - 10,500 cubic yards) of snow from the Grossglockner, said organizer Thomas Abfalter.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061205/ap_on_sc/austria_warming_in_alps
typical of this administration
I'm not very hopeful they'll rule against Bush admin.
I agree... just don't have the time to spend on something that isn't worthwhile in some way.
I'm not fond of Woody Allen.
Saw the movie Bobby... thought that was worthwhile... not great, but good.
yikes... and you usually will stick through them. must have been awful
"hold their tongue"
not what I was saying... more of a "why bother"
sounds good to me.
good post
...it will take time to clean up the mess.
very true, and let's not forget the shift doesn't take place until January.
sounds good to me.
or 3) some of us chose not to reply to your post at all regardless of what we thought
I heard on the radio the day after elections that the SAUDIs were going to cut production... Bush family and Saudi have close connections... no coincidence IMO. It went down for elections to mitigate that issue for the GOP... now it can go back up again.