December 18, 2007

Perata says health plan is 'DOA'

UPDATED....While the speaker and the governor were touting the health care plan's passage out of the Assembly in Sacramento on Monday, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata was telling a Bay Area TV station the plan is dead on arrival.

Perata has expressed concerns about putting a $14 billion health care package before voters as the state faces a $14 billion budget hole. He has said he will not ask senators to return to Sacramento to vote on a health plan until 2008.

"I think it's DOA. I haven't found anybody yet that I have talked to that can make any sense out of it. It sounds ridiculous to say that we're going to have health care for everybody in four years, but in the meantime most people won't have health care because we have to cut the budget," Perata told KPIX.

On Monday, the Senate leader sent a letter to the nonpartisan legislative analyst asking what the fiscal impact of the health plan would be on California's budget deficit.

"You couldn't balance your home checkbook that way, much less run the fifth or sixth largest economy in the world," Perata continued in the interview.

Then he ended with this: "He simply does not understand the way in which this works," though it's not clear from the clip who the Oakland Democrat is referring to.

Watch the interview here (It's about three minutes in).

On Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would not publicly pressure Perata to pass the legislation on a timetable. "I don't tell the senator how to run his house," he said.

But he sure sounded optimistic. "I am confident the Senate will follow up and quickly move the finish line even closer because I know Sen. Perata is a big, big believer in making sure everyone has medical insurance," Schwarzenegger said.

UPDATE: Perata’s spokesman Alicia Trost has called to clarify Perata's on-camera comments to say that Perata does not think the entire health deal is permanently DOA.

"We want to make clear that the health care reform movement is not DOA," Trost told Capitol Alert. "We need to know the details of the financing plans as well as the details of the budget before the Senate takes it up. We remain committed to passing health care reform and getting it done right but we only get one shot at doing this correctly."

Posted by Shane Goldmacher on December 18, 2007 12:45 PM