California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) on Tuesday said he would be open to a general tax increase to help fund health coverage for uninsured state residents if it is approved by voters, the Sacramento Bee reports. The California Restaurant Association has proposed a 1% sales tax increase to help fund health care reform in the state.

Schwarzenegger said the proposal was not his administration's idea but added it is "very important that we look at all the different ideas that come from the outside and within the administration and then you put everything on the table in our discussions."

With Republican lawmakers opposed to new taxes -- and a two-thirds vote required in the legislature required to enact them -- a tax to help fund an overhaul of the state health care system would depend on voter approval. Schwarzenegger, who in the past has opposed raising taxes, said, "I never close the door on anything." He said, "I always like (and) feel comfortable with the idea that we do the funding mechanism through the people, through a ballot initiative."

Schwarzenegger said that he hopes that an agreement on health care can be reached soon but that "the reality of it is a little different because there's so many stakeholders out there, there's so many different people that we want to include" (Rojas, Sacramento Bee, 9/18).

National Implications
Political observers say that the outcome of health care reform negotiations in California will have a strong impact on prospects for a national overhaul of the health care system, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said, "California is a pacesetter for the country." He added that if the state achieves health care reform, "it becomes a major phenomenon for consideration at the national level, and it would have a profound impact on the political process in Washington."

According to Anthony Wright of Health Access California, California has more uninsured, low-income residents than any other state and confronts a health care problem of greater size and scale than other states. Wright said, "Now the question is: Will the United States move more toward the debate that California has?" He added, "We have had a broad debate in California for the last four years that the country is just starting to pick up. And it will be interesting to see how that plays out" (Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/18).

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