Why Schwarzenegger's Health Care Plan is a Trojan Horse

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Randy Bayne
THE BAYNE OF BLOG'S CALIFORNIA NOTES

That is the message the California Nurses Association and California School Employees Association would like to get out. There is only one problem, they are being ignored.

The prevailing attitude seems to be that if you just ignore SB 840 and the support it has among a majority of Californians, maybe it will just go away. Legislators aren't listening – with a few exceptions, the Governor has never listened – to the people, and the insurance industry can't hear us over the jingling of their outrageous profits. And, many legislators can't see us over the stacks of cash they receive from the insurance lobby.

The just announced coalition on health care ignores a core constituency in the fight for adequate and affordable care. The coalition's plan favors businesses, particularly the insurance industry, while ignoring working Californians and leaving them subject to ever increasing premiums though a plan that requires individuals to buy health insurance, but doesn't cap increases in premiums to consumers. The CNA and CSEA call the idea a Trojan Horse because it is being passed off as universal coverage when all it really does is require people who can't afford the outrageous premiums to still buy health insurance, but does nothing to control cost.