HEALTH CARE REFORM UPDATE BY RON NEHRING

Last month I noted that Governor Schwarzenegger has initiated an important discussion on health care, and launched that discussion with his own proposal as an alternative to the "single-payer"/socialized medicine proposal the Democrats have been pushing.

The Republican Party is a big party, with elected officials with different ideas on how we can improve health care in California based on the current private sector system. Republicans in the legislature have put serious thought into bold, common sense proposals to improve the system.

Senate Republicans under the leadership of Senator Ackerman have put a very comprehensive health care proposal on the table: Cal Care, which consists of numerous reforms designed to improve access, affordability, and choice.

Unfortuantely, Senate Democrats who would rather push their socialized medicine proposal have failed to advance CalCare.

The Assembly Republican caucus under the leadership of Mike Villines has launched a very impressive website highlighting their menu of 18 reform proposals. Each proposal is aimed at addressing a specific issue with the health care or insurance markets. You can see the website and it's wealth of information here.

Assembly Republican health care proposals
Take the Assembly Republican survey of health care and insurance issues
Senate Republican Cal Care Plan

Democrats in the legislature should recognize their socialized medicine ideas will never make it past the Governor's veto pen, and instead take a serious look at the common sense propsoals Republicans in the legislature have put on the table.

Posted by Ron Nehring, CRP Chairman, Thursday June 14th

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