Before the California Budget Battles Begin

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

Later today, this year's budget battles win begin in earnest. And they will be ugly.

But before the budget battles begin, I would like to respond to those who question why we support a single-payer health care system and public program expansions, at the very same time we are actively engaged in fight over the bad decisions and priorities that elected officials sometimes make with regard to public health programs.

The question is comical, since it pre-supposes that we are naive, thinking somehow that everything that government does is right. That's far from the truth.

The answer is in the process we are about to go through. By all accounts, Governor Schwarzenegger will propose ugly cuts tomorrow. And he will propose those cuts rather than put forward a balanced approach that includes fighting for additional taxes and revenues to prevent the worst of those cuts.

But then these cuts will be evaluated in a public process, analyzed, considered by a legislature, and negotiated throughout. Various constituency groups will make their points about the impact of the cuts. And however, tough and ugly the budget process will be, there will be a resolution.

We may or may not like the final result. (In previous budget efforts, we've won some and lost some.) But at least there was public discussion and oversight.