Healthcare groups turn against governor’s budget plan

SACRAMENTO – Major health groups that had backed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s effort to extend medical coverage to all Californians have turned against him, saying the budget cuts he has proposed would swell the number of uninsured people by 1 million by the end of his term.

The groups are launching a television and newspaper advertising campaign against Schwarzenegger’s budget plan, which would reduce healthcare spending for the poor by $1.5 billion in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The association includes Catholic Healthcare West, a large nonprofit hospital chain; the Service Employees International Union; and the California Hospital Assn. The California Medical Assn., which represents doctors and never agreed to Schwarzenegger’s insurance expansion plan last year, has also joined the current fight.

A report released Wednesday by Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group, said the restrictions on public health programs contained in the budget Schwarzenegger has proposed to legislators would push the state’s ranks of uninsured to 7.5 million people over the next three years.

In Los Angeles County alone, the report said, 237,840 children and 169,731 low-income, working adults would be denied state-paid healthcare.

They said previous estimates have underestimated the severity of the cuts by focusing only on the first year, while the changes the governor wants to implement – including changing eligibility thresholds and establishing new bureaucratic hurdles – would cascade to much larger reductions in the following years.

The doctors, Catholic Healthcare West and Health Access on Wednesday disparaged Schwarzenegger for pushing the cuts at the same time as he has been calling healthcare “a moral crisis.”

“It’s outrageous that he’s calling the number of uninsured a moral crisis while proposing a budget that only increases the number of uninsured,” Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, said in a conference call with reporters.

A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman, Lisa Page, said: “The governor’s proposed budget reflects a difficult budget year, a $17-billion budget hole and the severity of our broken budget system. This is a governor who is dedicated to comprehensive healthcare reform that will ensure access to affordable, quality healthcare coverage for all Californians.”

Jordan.rau@latimes.com