Where was Maria Schriver when her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, vetoed SB 1555, a bill that would have required individual health plans to include maternity coverage? I think she owes us an explanation after going on Oprah and urging us to vote for her husband, as Gropinator of California. Reported in the San Jose Mercury News:
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday sided with hospital and insurance interests in a series of health-related bills. . . . On the issue of hospitals, Schwarzenegger rejected three bills that were at the top of the hospital industry's "oppose'' list, including legislation aimed at reducing large hospital bills for low-income, uninsured patients. The bill (SB 379) by Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, would have required hospitals to provide discounted rates.
Where is the Compassion?
An article in the Sacramento Bee points out:
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have required California hospitals to give discounted care to the poor and also would have banned some of their most aggressive bill collection tactics.
The measure, SB 379 by Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, would have made hospitals wait 150 days after treatment before sending patients' bills to collection and made it illegal for hospitals to foreclose on homes or seize other assets.
It also would have guaranteed that uninsured patients with income under 400 percent of the federal poverty level, about $62,000 for a family of three, pay no more than the rates typically charged to government health programs such as Medi-Cal and Medicare.
"This veto means that working families will be needlessly overcharged and sent into collections and on to court and then bankruptcy because the governor sided with industry against consumers," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a patient advocacy group.
In his veto message, the governor expressed sympathy for patients.
"Large hospital bills can lead to devastating financial consequences for those least capable of bearing the costs of unplanned visits to the hospital," he said in the message.
Talk is cheap mein Führer.
Chris Matthews states that Schwarzenegger called him a "girly man" because Matthews' wife won't allow cigar smoking in their home. So I wonder if Maria Schriver is so submissive to her über manly-man that she puts his demands over the health of her children? We all know that second-hand smoke is not good for developing lungs.
Speaking of "girly men" I don't find body builders appealing in anyway. I prefer brains over brawn, I prefer metro-sexual over retro-sexual and I didn't vote for Schwarzenegger either.
