Washington Post Examines Implications Of California Health Care Reform Bill Failure
Paul Ginsburg of the Center for Studying Health System Change said, "I've never believed that states would be able to go very far on their own because of their fiscal limitations," adding, "A state in an average year could be able to afford something, but once they get into a recession, they get into fiscal trouble." According to Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis, "The lack of federal support for state innovations has proved to be a major hurdle to reform."
Massachusetts "is the furthest along among states trying to expand coverage," the Post reports. The state's health insurance law requires most residents to obtain health coverage and offers state-subsidized coverage to those who qualify. Many other states are still trying to enact comprehensive health care legislation. According to Richard Cauchi, health program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures, "They are likely to take a look at what happened in California and tweak something that they may already have in the works, but I wouldn't see those states as changing a basic direction or abandoning what momentum they already have." He added, "States, to be honest, look inward primarily. They are not necessarily trying to be the national trendsetter. They are looking to create a law that will work within their own boundaries" (Lee, Washington Post, 1/31). Opinion Piece
California lawmakers who "pulled the plug" on the California health care bill showed that the state government "worked as it's supposed to -- protecting the public from well-intentioned but risky legislation that, until a few days earlier, had not been thoroughly vetted by any neutral expert," Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton writes. He continues that "universal health care would be terrific in California," but the state cannot afford it while facing a $14.5 billion budget gap and "a governor who refuses to even consider partially filling the gap with tax hikes."
Skelton writes that most state senators "couldn't justify the paradox of voting for an ambitious expansion of medical coverage while, separately, approving massive cuts in existing state health care programs to balance the budget." The defeat of the bill shows the "value of legislative experience and the danger of terms limits," as "the veteran Senate paused, took a deep breath and buried the bill" that Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D) "naively tried to rush" through the state Legislature "without careful scrutiny," he states. The "governor and speaker deserve credit for trying hard on universal health care," but "just because their bill failed doesn't mean that the Legislature did," he adds, concluding, "The system succeeded" (Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 1/31).
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Washington Post analizeazã implicaþiile de sãnãtate din California de reformã, Bill eºec - Washington Post Examines Implications Of California Health Care Reform Bill Failure - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate