SACRAMENTO — Deepening a Capitol rift, Republicans in the Assembly have decided to back free-market changes to the state's healthcare system but are refusing to embrace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ambition to resolve all of its shortcomings.
The group plans to unveil a package of proposals today that would encourage even the poorest Californians to save money for medical care, while eliminating the state's requirement that insurers pay for certain minimum services.
Michael Villines of Clovis, the GOP leader in the Assembly, said in an interview Tuesday that many of the proposals from the governor, Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans were unfairly raising expectations of what government could do and would eventually backfire.
"We don't want to buy into a plan that's going to fix everything, because we don't think there is a plan that fixes everything," Villines said. "We feel like we're the last line of defense."
The Assembly's 32 Republicans form the Legislature's most conservative faction. They are the last to come forward with a strategy for the issue Schwarzenegger calls the most important in the state: how to extend medical coverage to the 6.5 million residents who lack it while controlling the ever-climbing costs of insurance and services.
The group did not endorse Schwarzenegger's key wish: that all Californians be required to obtain health insurance. And it rejected any requirement that businesses offer coverage for employees, an idea embraced by the governor and the Democratic majorities in both houses of the Legislature.
"We are convinced that if we go forward with the plans that are out there today," Villines said, "you would, with good intentions, have less care for people, a huge government program that wouldn't work ... and you would have cost overruns that would be so prohibitive that the taxes to keep up would become a huge issue."
The Assembly Republicans also decline to support some proposals from their counterparts in the state Senate. Those include encouraging the use of clinics by limiting access to hospital emergency rooms, and relying on the expectation of federal funds to help pay for new services.
The Assembly members agreed with Senate Republicans, however, that people should be encouraged to stash money for medical care in tax-free accounts. That would be done by authorizing Health Savings Accounts, a Bush administration idea that is allowed in 46 states.
