In a season of wild stories, here’s the next one: Governor Arnold is facing a recall, just as his state is falling apart and some crucial healthcare bills are waiting to be signed. This new threat to his term opens a window of opportunity to push some of those bills through.
He's got no one to blame but himself. There’s a ridiculous case of budget gridlock hitting California right now...the budget is historically late, key bills are stalled, the most vulnerable among us are threatened, and there is not a single Republican willing to support the budget proposed by either Republican Governor Schwarzenegger or the legislative Dems.
Into this tinderbox, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) has just thrown a match. They’ve started the process to recall Arnold Schwarzenegger, an accidental governor who assumed office when his processor was recalled.
You have to admit, CCPOA has a good sense of timing. Schwarzenegger is facing a major crisis, and his support has just plummeted to 36% approval, 62% disapproval, for a net of negative 26 approval. Ouch! Those are Dick Cheney numbers.
So what about those healthcare bills, including SB 840, the bill to move California to a guaranteed healthcare system, like in Canada and Europe.
Here's my guess...
- Schwarzenegger will be forced to sign some smaller healthcare bills.
The Sac Bee reports today that several pieces of the "big bang" healthcare bill from last year have made their way to the Governor’s desk to await a decision
the most significant health care bill to survive is one that Schwarzenegger could sign, based on his past utterances. It would make it much more difficult for health insurers to rescind customers' coverage for allegedly not disclosing details of personal health histories.
The state has fined five insurers some $15 million in recent years for canceling coverage of more than 3,000 customers. Assembly Bill 1945 by Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate, would allow cancellation only if customers intentionally mislead insurers, and such decisions would face regulatory reviews.
This bill wouldn’t go as far to rein in insurance companies as SB 840 or HR 676, the single-payer bills, would, but this is a significant advance in cutting back on insurance industry abuse of patients. Will he really want to face the public as the Governor who stood up to let insurance companies dump their patients off the rolls? Impossible.
- But if he wants to save his Governorship, and his legacy, he has to go for the big enchilada, and own healthcare as an issue.
Earlier today, hundreds of healthcare activists, including significant numbers from the California Alliance of Retired Americans, and the California School Employees Association rallied at the State Capitol to deliver tens of thousands of petitions to the Governor asking him to sign SB 840,Sheila Kuehl’s groundbreaking bill to guarantee healthcare in California. It has now passed the legislature twice—and been vetoed by Arnold once. (That’s Malinda Markowitz, RN, President of the CA Nurses Association, preparing to speak.)
His future is now on the line. One way to save it? By becoming the Governor who brings guaranteed healthcare to America. By saving tens of billions of dollars every year, while providing care for millions of Californians who don’t have it. By saving his reputation—and signing SB 840.
He might not—but he definitely should.
You can help encourage him by calling 916-445-2841 and telling him to sign SB 840.