After years of federal inaction, we’re gratified to see that governors are taking center stage in the effort to forge comprehensive health coverage reform. California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger stepped out front this week to provide a boost for the notion of universal coverage.
Colorado’s new governor, Bill Ritter, is anxious to dive into the subject, but he’s aware that the table hasn’t been properly set here. In his State of the State address today, he’ll set his administration on a path of study and dialogue. He won’t be alone – legislative leaders from both parties have put health reform at the tops of their agendas.
Ritter says a comprehensive proposal probably won’t be ready until 2008. It can’t come too soon – Colorado has 770,000 citizens without health insurance, and businesses that pay most premiums feel enormous pressure to control costs.
Ritter, who met with the Post editorial board Wednesday, has been closely watching state-led efforts in Massachusetts and now California. “They’re ahead of us in the conversation,” he said.
When Ritter unveils his ideas about coverage, he’ll join a growing cadre of governors who are not waiting for Washington to develop a solution. Schwarzenegger said Monday he’ll ask his legislature to approve an ambitious overhaul of the way insurance is acquired and paid for in California. His plan would require citizens of the state to have health insurance and it would extend coverage to 6.5 million who don’t have insurance. It also would require businesses employing more than 10 people to provide coverage or pay into a fund that would offset costs for the uninsured.
California is following a path blazed by Massachusetts in 2004 when then-Gov. Mitt Romney proposed mandating health insurance for all residents. That plan was passed into law last year, but has yet to fully blossom. Questions remain about how to enlist about 150,000 of the state’s working poor, who are to receive subsidized coverage.
In the coming weeks and months, Ritter expects to address several related issues, including an expected executive order for Colorado to join a prescription bulk-buying pool for state health programs. The legislature is expected to take up a measure that would expand a program that provides care for Colorado’s low-income children.
That is a good start. Coloradans will look forward to a thoughtful examination of the state’s system of health care coverage. Officials and experts must forge a solution that ensures fairness in who gets benefits and who pays for them.
