 |
Schwarzenegger's desire for universal healthcare a natural segueDate: 20.12.2006
Posted by: Anabolic Info Team United States
acramento — Arnold Schwarzenegger says one of his first purchases after coming to America 38 years ago was health insurance.
"It's a cultural thing, maybe," he says.
"I come from Austria, where everyone's insured. It was a totally normal thing to me. Like eating and sleeping and finding an apartment. It was like, 'Now you've got to get the insurance.' One of the things I wanted to do the first month."
He found an insurance broker — a former Mr. Olympia — at a bodybuilding gym on Ventura Boulevard in L.A. The broker thought young Arnold was being set up, that somebody was playing a joke. No, Schwarzenegger insisted, he really did want to buy health insurance.
He bought a policy for $23 a month, and paid an extra $5 for disability insurance.
"I knew I could get sick," he says. "Or I could have an accident. Or something can happen in training. In sports, you have all these injuries. You see people always tearing out knees….
"And sure enough, 3 1/2 years later, I tore my knee — my ligament, the cartilage in the kneecap, everything — and I needed knee surgery."
The surgery cost $8,000. Schwarzenegger paid just $1,000. Plus, he got $1,500 in disability.
"It was one of those perfect examples" of why people need health insurance, he says.
Skip ahead about 30 years. The mega-rich Hollywood superstar is seriously thinking about running for governor in 2006. Nobody yet could imagine a 2003 recall of Gov. Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger political strategist George Gorton argued the action hero needed to sponsor a 2002 ballot initiative that would serve as an introductory course in campaigning and show the public his compassionate side.
Schwarzenegger had an idea: He wanted to propose a state subsidy to help all children get health insurance, according to a Schwarzenegger biography, "The People's Machine," by Times reporter Joe Mathews.
His consultants protested. The cost would scare off voters, especially fellow Republicans. So instead, Schwarzenegger sponsored a successful initiative to fund after-school programs.
But Schwarzenegger didn't drop his idea. He promised to fight for insuring all children while running for governor during the recall. And "since the day he got into office," an advisor says, "he's been asking for a plan to address health insurance. But there were so many other things, we just didn't get to it."
Now they finally are — the whole Capitol, executive and legislative branches.
It's the issue du jour for the two-year legislative session that kicks off Jan. 3.
Today, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) intends to disclose a Democratic proposal that would provide immediate coverage for all children. Also, employers would be required to provide a health plan or contribute to a state insurance pool.
Last week, Senate leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) proposed covering about two-thirds of uninsured Californians through their employers.
Schwarzenegger said in an interview that he'll unveil his plan for healthcare insurance before his Jan. 9 State of the State Address. "I'll call it the 'state of the health of California.' "
He wants everyone to be covered, presumably including illegal immigrants.
It's "a broken system," he keeps repeating, in an effort to generate public pressure on the Capitol to fix it.
|
© Anabolic Info
|
|
 |
