$14 Billion HealthCare Bill Passed By California State Assembly

The California State legislative assembly, on Monday, passed the first phase of the $14.4 billion Health Care Reform bill estimated to provide at least two thirds of the states uninsured with medical insurance.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles negotiated the reform, which passed along party line, 45 to 31 votes.

Schwarzenegger and Nunez called a press conference to celebrate the victory. Speaking on the occasion, Schwarzenegger said, “California has taken a giant step forward today on something that many people thought could not be done. We are closer than ever to fixing our broken health care system.”

Nunez described the plan as the largest state expansion of health care coverage for the working class. However, he also admitted that the plan had been hard to forge.

And hard to forge, the plan should be. Funding for the health care package relies on fees up to $2.6 billion on employers that don’t provide health care, $1.5 billion on tobacco users and $2.3 billion on hospitals.

Many groups have already criticized the proposal on the arguments that it is an encumbrance on the taxpayers and that it has dicey funding sources.

Blue Cross of California, the State’s largest insurer, Tobacco and drug companies and The California Chamber of Commerce are all set to join the fracas against the implementation of the bill.

The bill will now go for voting to the Senate, which is also controlled by the Democrats. However, it is more skeptical of the bill’s survival as it is not sure if the government will be able to maintain the required funding for the project.

The Senate president said he would ask the Legislature’s fiscal experts to determine whether the plan would contribute in further draining the State coffers.

If the Senate also passes the bill, it will go for a statewide voting in November 2008, asking the voters to approve the increase in taxes.

The bill has also drawn further flak from the Republicans who have accused the Governor of going back on his promise not to increase the taxes.

Meanwhile, leading Democratic Presidential candidates have proposed similar reforms on a nation wide level. These include, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

It has to be accepted that the bill is in the right place with its purpose to provide Californian citizens with much needed medical reforms.

The intricacies of the bill have all the right details for it to be successfully implemented, not only in California, but nation wide on similar lines.

However, the biggest problem with the bill lies with its funding. With an increase in burden on the taxpayer, it will not be easily digested by many. This at a time, when the state government is already staring at a projected $14 billion budget shortfall in 2008, will only add to the opposition to the bill.