Burd's group has embraced two of Schwarzenegger's central concepts: requiring everyone to be insured and providing financial assistance to the poor to help them purchase coverage.
That framework also forms the basis of a proposal in Congress, sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), that has some bipartisan support. But the coalition's "core principles" steer clear of how to pay for subsidies and what requirements, if any, need to be placed on the nation's employers.
Burd said he hoped that his Coalition to Advance Healthcare Reform would help employers see that inaction would be devastating.
"Most people believe [healthcare reform] does not get done without good business support," Burd said, "and we've assembled a coalition of people who believe business has a responsibility to make sure people get the healthcare coverage that they need."
The coalition is the latest to form this year as lawmakers face off over a plethora of proposals to overhaul the healthcare system. AARP, which has 3 million members over 50 in California, last week launched a television campaign to encourage state lawmakers to provide "quality, affordable healthcare now."
A number of unions, insurers and healthcare providers have their own coalition to encourage action on the state and national level.
The coalition intends to press state and federal lawmakers beginning today in Washington, D.C., and in Sacramento on Thursday. Burd said he already is talking to legislative leaders in both places and hopes that as the coalition grows, its influence will expand.
In Sacramento, the coalition could lean hard on Republican legislators, who have come out against the idea of forcing people to buy insurance. GOP leaders -- who side with business on many issues -- say it is unrealistic to aspire to universal coverage. Instead, they say, the state should emphasize better access to medical care.
"For Republican legislators, the business community has been an important constituency," said Adam Mendelsohn, Schwarzenegger's spokesman. "And when you have businesses standing up and saying, 'The healthcare system is problematic for us; fix it,' that presents a dynamic that has been missing in previous healthcare debates."
But Scott Hauge, director of Small Business California, an association with 2,700 member companies, said Burd's effort drives a "wedge" into the business lobby that hurts his efforts to press legislators to contain rising healthcare costs.
