Arnold Going Backwards on Health Care

The governor is moving in the wrong direction on health care. He has vetoed $55 million for the mentally ill, kept a $45 million tax cut for yacht owners and eliminated a prescription drug discount program that he campaigned on last year. The contradictions of the former are exasperating, but the stupidity of the later really gets me. Anthony Wright:

My understanding was that the Department of Health Services already some potential vendors and a few agreements with drug companies in place.

The state has already put resources in to identifying these vendors and negotiating the agreements. Zeroing out this program means that was completely wasted money. This was one of those classic governmental programs that for a relatively small investment we could bring a very large benefit to many state residents. The program had its roots in the 2005 election, when Arnold sided with the drug companies for their much more modest proposal. He then reversed himself in 2005 and backed the legislative version of the initiative. Now he has flopped all over again, over a relatively small amount of money to appease the Republicans.

This does not bode well for the larger health care reform negotiations. This is the critical week to make progress. We are running out of time on the legislative calendar. To end the year with no deal and Arnold's vetoes actually moving us backwards would be incredibly depressing. Merc:

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a sweeping proposal in January to extend health insurance to all Californians, Democrats and reform advocates hailed it as the best opportunity in years to revamp a system notoriously resistant to change.

Now, with just three weeks left in the legislative session, expectations are dimming by the day. Rather than joining the governor's call for shared sacrifice, lawmakers and interest groups are zeroing in on aspects of his plan they dislike, and there is no clear path to a middle ground.

"We started in January with an amazing amount of hope," said Dustin Corcoran, a lobbyist for the California Medical Association, which opposes a key part of the governor's plan. "And now, here we are three weeks out from the end of the session, and the sides are farther apart than they ever were."

I take a lot of issues with how this is being portrayed by the Merc. When Arnold proposed his plan it was not heralded as the best opportunity in years for reform. The political atmosphere was what was being discussed. Arnold's plan was immediately attacked by a number of people, myself included. It was big enough that it faced the HillaryCare phenomenon, particularly with regards to the two major sticking points now: individual mandates and financing.

The Merc is right that expectations are dimming. Arnold has hardened his stance against AB8 and it appears that passage of his plan is impossible. That makes it difficult to see a path towards passage of a comprehensive reform plan, but not impossible. There is always the possibility that a scaled down reform measure could be passed, especially one geared towards children. Then next year a more ambitious initiative could be advanced. But, we still have some time left. Hopefully Arnold will come back to planet reality on this stuff and negotiate.