Garamendi Rides the Tide of Health Care

It’s a warm Thursday night. The San Francisco Giants are on television, fighting for the pennant and playing the archenemy Los Angeles Dodgers. But 200 people have crowded into a school board room to hear Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi talk about health care.

There are hard metal chairs for half the audience. The rest must sit awkwardly on collapsible tables or stand against the wall. Virtually all, however, stay until the very end, listening, questioning and arguing for two hours.

These people haven’t sacrificed home comfort and exciting baseball to consort with Garamendi. They are here to learn about President Clinton’s health care plan and how it fits into their lives.

Garamendi, of course, is hoping they also will discover that he fits into their lives as the potential governor best able to deal with any national health plan. Each state will be given wide leeway to design and implement its own health system within the federal framework, he notes.

And what better governor to handle this task than Garamendi, who long has advocated national health insurance and has pushed for managed care reforms in California? Reforms allowing a person to be covered by one 24-hour health policy, rather than the present fragmented system of several policies--health, workers’ compensation, automobile--that drive up administrative costs and encourage lawsuits. Garamendi, who in early 1992 persuaded Clinton to champion managed competition; who became an architect of the President’s plan and furnished Hillary Rodham Clinton with two expert aides to help draft it.

That message is delivered subtly, however. Garamendi does not always trumpet his Clinton connection.

“Is this (Clinton) plan Garamendi’s? You bet,” says Bill Schulz, the commissioner’s spokesman. “But you have to be a little modest. We don’t want to be charged with overstating the case. Actually, it’s easier to understate than overstate the Garamendi influence on Clinton’s plan.”

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Health care--more so than auto insurance--is Garamendi’s issue. Just as education naturally is Treasurer Kathleen Brown’s and crime and illegal immigration are Gov. Pete Wilson’s.

The political tide is right for Garamendi. The 1994 gubernatorial race will be held as Congress debates health insurance. Voters will be conversant on the concept, if not the complexities. Americans currently support the President’s plan by more than 2 to 1, according to a Times poll. But this early support also is tentative.

Whether the tide will be strong enough to carry Garamendi into the governor’s office is very problematic. Right now he is an underdog, trailing Brown by 15 points in their early maneuvering for the Democratic nomination, according to a recent Times poll. Garamendi, however, leads Republican Wilson by 10 points.

The survey found little to encourage Garamendi about the impact of health care on his prospects. The issue ranked near the bottom when voters were asked what they considered California’s “most important problem.” It barely registered compared to the economy, crime, immigration and education. Liberals were more concerned about health care than conservatives, but liberals preferred Brown over Garamendi by a 37-point margin. Women were more concerned than men, but they favored Brown by 22 points.

Nevertheless, Garamendi’s campaign manager, Darry Sragow, hopes that his long battle for health care reform will convey a dual message to voters: Garamendi has vision and he is a fighter.

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Garamendi also has lots of energy. The 48-year-old former legislator and UC Berkeley football star is a dawn-to-midnight workaholic, constantly on the move. The Thursday night health insurance forum in suburban Carmichael was the 15th he has held around the state since spring. And, belying what polls say about voter interest, each event has been packed, aides say.

The commissioner grabs a hand microphone and smoothly does a Phil Donahue--or maybe it’s a Bill Clinton--roaming through the audience and soliciting views. People ask about cost. A small business owner worries about having to close her doors. Another woman advocates the Canadian “single payer” system. One man tells Garamendi he talks too much.

Garamendi smiles and takes it all in stride.

“We have ahead of us probably the most important public policy debate of our lifetime,” he says. “This one’s down home and personal.”

Earlier to reporters he had said of the special interests: “Out of the trough, pigs. The feed ration’s reduced.”

Health care alone will not elect Garamendi governor. But it and his tenacity are two reasons he cannot be counted out.