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![]() Monday, January 08, 2007 By Jordan Rau, Times Staff Writer 3:09 PM PST, January 8, 2007 SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today proposed upending just about every portion of the healthcare industry in one of the country's most elaborate efforts at holding down medical costs and expanding insurance to those who don't have it. Schwarzenegger's plan, which he publicly unveiled at noon, would require employers with 10 workers or more to buy insurance for their workers or pay a fee of 4% of their payroll into a program to help provide coverage for the uninsured. Schwarzenegger would tax doctors 2% of their gross revenue and place a 4% tax on hospitals. He campaigned for reelection on an anti-tax platform, but his administration argues that so many more people would have insurance that medical providers would make more money. The governor also wants to ban insurers from refusing to offer coverage to some individuals because of their prior medical conditions. Insurers would also have to spend at least 85% of their premium revenues on patient care, a move that would limit the amount companies spend on administrative costs and profits. In an effort to cover all Californian children, including ones in the state illegally, Schwarzenegger's plan would expand the state's Healthy Families program, providing insurance to children whose parents make less than three times the poverty level. That works out to about $60,000 for a family of four. And Schwarzenegger said his plan would require every Californian to have health insurance. "If you can't afford it, the state will help you buy it," he said, "but you must be insured."... [Complete piece of shit here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-ex-gov8jan09,0,2093608.story?coll=la-home-headlines] | ![]() FRONT PAGE
-- G.W. Bush "The process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor" (2000) -- Project for a New American Century "We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order." -- David Rockefeller "Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death."
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