Amerchoice Health Plan
After a year false starts and rejections, Governor Schwarzenegger and state legislative leaders have produced a bill that they claim will provide amerchoice health plan for all Californians, ABX1-1. This bill has been heralded as groundbreaking, comprehensive healthcare reform. Now that the bill awaits approval by the State Senate and funding from California voters via a ballot initiative, advocates of the bill are putting on a full court press. State leaders, long-time health advocates and pundits tell us that it’s now or never, when it comes to making healthcare reform happen. With a $14 billion state budget deficit shadowing the effort, communities of color are being told to get on board and ignore concerns about how the policy will actually affect them. But with people of color making up 75 percent of the state’s uninsured, the question that should be posed is: Is this a savior or a sham? For at least five good reasons, I fear