Schwarzenegger Announces He Will Veto Healthcare Bill

[thatsrightimirish]

If Angelides were smart he'll go after that phoney on this issue.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-health6sep06,1,7589914.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

[eleny]

1. Bernie Ward spoke on his radio show about this recently

He said that Angelides is also against it. That was a couple of days ago.

[AtomicKitten]

3. Wrong move, Phil baby.

Let Lumpy take the hits for putting the kibosh on this groundbreaking legislation.

Oh, and since I'm a Californian, go f*ck yourself Schwarzenegger.

[Punkingal]

2. So what can you expect....

from a pig but a grunt? There was never any doubt in my mind that he would veto it.

[bliss_eternal]

4. It's not like he or his family are affected by it...

:eyes:

[Porcupine]

5. From one working Californian without health care......................

Hey ARNOLD, I got this bag of salt, a hammer and a page of instructions. You probably know what to do with it.

If Phil Angelides is too chickenshit to support universal health care HE can STFU! also. I'm sick of having my electoral choices be DINO's or reThuglicans. Exactly what issue is more important; building more prison cells?

[McCamy Taylor]

6. Californians hate taxes. Need to show that ER care COSTS money

This is very easy to do. People without insurance end up getting expensive care at county hospitals which the tax payers end up paying the bills for. Or at private hospitals which pass on the losses to their paying customers. This lack of preventive care means that the uninsured end up costing Calfornia more in medical costs, time off work, disability--this really adds up.

Get someone who does numbers to calculate it and present it to the voters. Show them how much money the insurance industry skims off health care as opposed to what Medicare or similar govt providers cost for services. Show them how much money universal health insurace will save in the long run. Show them that Arnold is lining the pockets of insurance companies, speciality hospitals, pharmaceutical companies in Calfornia and the rest of the nation that are afraid that if California gets Single payer so will everyone else.

Yet another reason why it was so important for the GOP to get rid of Grey Davis, besides making sure that the Enron civil suit got settled quietly out of court.

[flaminbats]

7. even Democrats don't want my vote!!

Schwarzenegger could of won my vote by signing this, but why doesn't Angelides want my vote?

insurance companies deserve special treatment, they deserve affirmative action, they deserve to have our money and screw us in return! but demanding something in return for a private sector service or paying taxes for a government that refuses to enforce the law...that just makes me another unpatriotic commie!!! :banghead:

[Maat]

8. While I support the idea of universal health care,

recognize how badly it is needed, and wrote an email, I'm now having second thoughts.

Let's say that there's a couple that makes $150,000 dollars together in California, and that they are both independent contractors. They already have to pay federal and state taxes, in addition to both sides of social security (they each pay 16%). They already are in the 50% tax bracket.

They have to put food on the table and pay the mortgage, which in SoCal is at least $3,000 a month just for the mortgage.

This bill would require them to pay an additional $17,250 (11.5%) off the top, and that might put them out of business! A private health insurance plan for a family at Blue Cross costs $7,200 per year (we have such a plan, and it is fairly comprehensive, and provides for extensive multi-million dollar coverage in the event of a medical emergency). The difference is $10,050/year. That would buy quite a bit of insurance!!

So, this bill is going to have a HUGELY negative impact upon small businesses and independent contractors, and they already are dealing with so much.

I have emailed Sheila Kuehl's office, and verified that the independent contractors would have to pay the suggested 11.5% (8% payroll tax and 3.5% as an individual), if that is what the Commission established recommended. It is likely that it will be at least that high due to an independent organization's recommendation.

I emailed her that she needed to provide for either a cap or an exemption to small businesses and independent contractors, before I could continue backing the bill.

We need to focus on huge companies that can afford this; crushing small businesses for this will get us nowhere.

So, right now, I'm not blaming Phil for backing universal health care - just not this bill.

So, that's where I'm at now. I'm not trying to get my fellow progressives mad at me. I'm trying to figure out how I can support my family, keep my income, secure decent healthcare for all, and yet have enough to fund my causes.

[flaminbats]

9. wow..50% tax bracket?

so they keep less than 50% of every single dollar they earn..hmmm :eyes:

that sounds more like a really high sales tax to me!!! so many of these people already pay premiums and taxes..but it would be a real crime to give them something worth that money :wow:

[ProudDad]

10. Blame the phony speculating bastards

who bid up the real estate market here in California, not those of us scared shitless that we'll lose everything we have if we get sick.

This plan would have been SO MUCH better than what we (don't) have now!

$7200 for a family...try well over $7,000 for me, a single person on Social Security!!!! No fuckin' way! So I join the millions of uninsured.

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Anyhoo, if your mythical couple were really independent contractors making $150,000 gross, they'd be idiots if they were paying taxes on more than half of that as a net taxable income -- 11.5 % of 75 grand is $8625 -- MUCH less than they'd have to pay for health care under the present (laughably called) system!!!

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The REAL question is are we a collection of independent, Randian loners or are we a community of human beings?

[Maat]

11. We are a community of human beings.

And we as a family only pay $7,200/year for comprehensive health care through Blue Cross. By contrast, 11.5% of 150,000 is $17,250 per year. That's $10,050 (in difference - pre-tax).

But that's not my point. I just strongly believe that small businesses, with only a few employees, should only be charged 3% or something. The balance should be made up with a greater rate on the HUGE multinationals that want to be here to exploit our resources. Let's make this plan irresistible.

That's just my two cents' worth, which I emailed to Sheila Kuel.

[ProudDad]

12. I agree with you

it should be a "sliding scale".

I'm sure that Kuel would have preferred that but decided that the repuke gov. definitely wouldn't sign it. She was probably going after the possible rather than the ideal.

Does the bill really say that the tax is on the Gross or is it on the Net income like every other tax other than the regressive sales tax?