The California State Assembly is expected to vote today on a plan to expand health care to all Californians. The move comes three months after Governor Schwarzenegger called a special session on the issue. From Sacramento Marianne Russ reports.
The plan would mandate all Californians have insurance. It would be paid for by a tax on hospitals, an employer fee, and a new tobacco tax. The vote comes days after word of a 14 billion dollar hole in the state's budget. But Schwarzenegger says that won't affect the health care expansion plan:
Schwarzenegger: It will be absolutely revenue neutral. There will be no money taken from the taxpayers or from the general revenues.
The Governor's talked of across the board cuts to solve the budget problem. But Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said last week it wouldn't be right to expand health care while cutting current health programs:
Perata: Shouldn't any available money first go to what we can afford rather than taking a leap into the future?"
Perata says he does not plan to call the Senate back to vote on the health care bill this month.
