Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pledging California's full support for national health care reform, throwing the weight of one of the nation's most prominent Republican voices behind the overhaul.
Schwarzenegger says he has long supported the concept of universal health coverage. He says now is the time to set politics aside and start implementing the law signed earlier this year.
If reform is to succeed, he says, "it is up to the states to make it happen."
Schwarzenegger's remarks were prepared in advance of a speech he will gave later Thursday and were obtained in advance by The Associated Press.
His comments mark a change in tone. Earlier, he had criticized a Senate version of the national bill that gave Nebraska more Medicaid money than other states, calling it a "rip-off."
