SACRAMENTO (AP) – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he will attempt another ambitious reform of health care in California despite a budget deficit he is now estimating could climb as high as $20 billion.
In an interview with The Associated Press and obtained by The Sacramento Union, Schwarzenegger said he has an obligation to try to make health care available to some 5.1 million Californians who lack health care insurance. And he said he won’t scale back the plan simply to cut a deal.
“I think that we have put together a good package where we could have done it but, you know, fell short in the Senate, so now we’ll try again. We will continue on, keeping the stakeholders together, fine-tuning it and seeing if we can improve on it,” Schwarzenegger told the AP during a 30-minute interview in his Capitol office.
His previous compromise, a $14.7 billion health care package with Democratic leaders, failed earlier this year in a state Senate committee after an analysis raised concerns about its financing.
Schwarzenegger said he was buoyed by a recent Field Poll that found nearly three-quarters of Californians supported the basic principles of his health plan.
“I think that will inspire everyone here that we were on the right track, that those that had doubts, that those that used the budget as an excuse for not passing it ... that we were doing the right thing and they were wrong,” he said.
He said he is not willing to break apart the plan, as some have suggested, to tackle only children’s health care or address problems with Medi-Cal. He said the health care market is too complicated for that and he’s not interested in aiming for less than is possible.
“In life, you go out and you give it the best shot and you have to be daring. You have to be courageous and not worry about failure, because the more you worry about failure, the more restrictive you are and the more afraid you are of shooting for the stars,” he said.
The compromise Schwarzenegger struck previously with legislative Democrats, led by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, would have covered about 70 percent of the state’s uninsured residents through a combination of subsidies and mandates.
It would have required most Californians to have an insurance policy and every employer to contribute something toward their workers’ health care.
A report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, requested by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, raised concerns about the plan’s cost. It said the state could be on the hook for an additional $500 million to $1.5 billion annually within five years.
Perata and other senators said it would be irresponsible for California to take on such a costly program in the midst of a budget crisis.
Last week, Schwarzenegger and a leading Democratic lawmaker said the state’s budget deficit through June 2009 is projected to be between $15 billion and $20 billion. In the interview last week, the governor said revenue and spending projections are fluctuating daily, making it hard to pin down the size of the gap before he releases his revised budget proposal for the 2008-09 fiscal year on May 14.
The deficit already has forced cuts to the state’s health care program for the poor and elderly. At Schwarzenegger’s urging, state lawmakers in February approved a $600 million reduction in Medi-Cal payments to doctors.
Nunez, who is termed out of office this year and will give up the speaker’s post this month, also cited the Field Poll as proof that Californians are eager for a health care fix.
“Hopefully, the patient advocates, labor unions and responsible businesses who backed our plan can leverage this public support and help keep the pressure on for realistic reform that will make health care more affordable for millions of Californians,” he said in a statement.
Schwarzenegger has insisted that financing for the health care plan would be separate from the state general fund and would not worsen the budget deficit.
The governor also reiterated his opposition to raising taxes but also said he would consider closing tax loopholes. At the same time, he discounted the suggestion that his position on taxes has been ambiguous.
Schwarzenegger said he simply does not want to close the door on good ideas.
“I believe when you go into negotiations you should never say, ‘Well, all of this is off the table,’ because then what I’m saying is, ‘It’s just my way or the highway.’ I want to listen to the reasoning behind all of these proposals,” he told the AP.
But Schwarzenegger warned that he would want proof such plans would really save the state money. He said some recommendations by the legislative analyst to end tax incentives could have the unintended effect of reducing state revenue, which would only add to the budget problems.
Still, the governor told the AP he has no illusions about the difficulty of reaching compromises on the budget or health care this year.
He said no one in particular is to blame for the failure of the original health care proposal, but said failure is no reason to give up on that or any of his other ambitions.
Those plans include reforming the budget process to avoid the financial roller coaster that has seen the state flip between large surpluses and massive deficits in recent years, providing stable funding for education and addressing California’s public works needs.
“One has the responsibility to use all your energy, and in my case all the other things I bring, to get it done,” he said. “That’s my commitment I made to the people, and I will work until as long as I sit here on those things. I think we have a good shot of getting all those things done. It’s just not on the first attempt.”
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger responds to questions during an interview with the Associated Press, in his Capitol office in Sacramento, Tuesday, April 29, 2008. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)