Precept Employee Benefits Blog

The more things threaten to change, the more they stay the same.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s epic proposal to reform California’s healthcare system certainly has a much more pronounced idealism than plan reforms of the past.  However, his plan to bring medical insurance to all California residents not only shined the spotlight on health care reform this week, it also helped re-enforce the presence of the one constant stumbling block to real reform known as partisan politics.

It is not a shock that Democrats have said this plan would be a victory for the people in need of a hand, nor is it a surprise that Republicans have come out and said it would be a handout for the irresponsible.  Throw in the issue of the illegal immigration, and health care reform becomes even further injected with a most passionate polarization.  The stubbornness on both sides of the political spectrum has been the bugaboo in existence that has successfully kept a true reform of California’s woebegone health system from occurring.  Seeing as how the slings and arrows of politicking have already started to be flung rapidly up and down the state since Schwarzenegger’s brazen plan, expect it to be dismantled during the ensuing negotiation process.  I’m not saying that no change will occur as a result of this plan.  There will be, and some of those changes may actually be beneficial to the citizens of the Golden State.  But judging from the initial reactions from those involved in the lawmaking process, I’m just saying that it would be unwise to get your hopes up for true overhaul.