Hello?

by digby

Can someone tell Chris Matthews that Arnold Schwarzenneger did not actually enact health care reform in California? He’s been saying it for days now and nobody ever corrects him.

They can’t even keep the lights on in this state, much less pass universal health care. What the hell is he talking about?

Here’s what happened:

Small: ABX1 1 got 1 “aye” vote, 7 “nos” and 3 abstentions. Nunez slumped in a chair as the committee – for now – put an end to health care reform in California.

Daniel Zingali: Obviously that was disappointing.

Small: Daniel Zingali is the governor’s health care policy analyst and one of the architects of the bill. Working nights and most weekends, he managed to win support from unions, business groups, and nearly all the major health insurers in the state. Zingali even got California hospitals to agree to a tax to make health care reform work.

Zingali: That’s the system we have, though – where there can be a year of momentum built, securing all the stakeholder support that the governor secured, passage in the Assembly, agreement between a Democratic majority in the Assembly and a Republican governor – and one panel can vote it down under intensive lobbying from those who remained opposed.

Small: Zingali’s most powerful opponent was Blue Cross, the largest private health insurer in the state. Blue Cross refused a recorded interview for this story. But in a letter to the Senate Health Committee before the January vote on the bill, Blue Cross said ABX1 1 would increase premiums “when affordability is already a barrier to coverage for many Californians.”

Blue Cross also said it “strongly believes in guaranteeing individuals access to coverage” – but without “unintended consequences” that could raise health care costs. Daniel Zingali’s interpretation: the bill would have required health insurers to cover to anyone who applied – and to spend more on medical care. Zingali says Blue Cross didn’t like that.

Zingali: They want to be able to turn people away for their health histories and they don’t like the idea of having to spend at least 85 cents of the dollar on patient care.

Small: In its lobbying effort against the bill, Blue Cross hired PR firm Goddard Clausen for $2 million. That’s the firm that created the “Harry and Louise” TV ads to defeat the Clinton universal health care reform plan. They showed a middle-aged couple sorting through medical bills at the kitchen table.

Louise (from Harry and Louise commercial): (sighs) This was covered under our old plan…
Harry: That was a good one.
Narration: Things are changing and not for the better.

Small: Blue Cross paid another 3 million for Sacramento lobbyists to defeat ABX1 1. Altria – the parent company of cigarette maker Philip-Morris – spent almost $350,000 to lobby against the bill.

The tobacco giant got involved when the proponents added a tax on cigarettes to help pay for health care. The governor’s health czar Daniel Zingali says lobbying by two well-heeled opponents definitely hurt the bill.

And then the Democrats folded.

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