Rescue California

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Transcript of gubernatorial recall debate

September 24, 2003

Page 10

those kinds of things -- high electricity costs that are much, much higher than anywhere in the nation. They cannot afford it. What you will have then is no jobs, no businesses and no health care. What we need to do right now is protect the businesses and protect the people so they have jobs. It doesn't surprise me that this comes from you because you've never run a business. I am the only one here that has run businesses, developed them and met the payroll and has paid for workers' compensation and taken care of the health care of the employees. You have never done it. It's easy for you to sit there because you are only used to signing the check on the back, but not on the front. You've never signed in the front. So this is what you have to do. You have to realize that.

BUSTAMANTE: I understand. I'll just have a very brief response. You know, when you have a mega-corporation, the biggest in the history of the world like Wal-Mart who are underpaying their people and then as a result give them official documents to go and apply for food stamps and public health care. That's a burden that taxpayers can't afford any longer either.

MCCLINTOCK: I think there's a much better way to do it and it's not SB2, which requires businesses to provide health care plans for their employees -- that the businesses own and the businesses control and are paid for through the lower wages of employees. The very first impact of that bill, Cruz, is going to be an awful lot people who are thrown out of work as businesses pare back their payrolls to avoid the threshold that triggers that obligation. I do believe that we ought to have a society where everyone has access to health care. Unfortunately, I believe we can do that in a much more rational way through a simple tax credit on a sliding income scale that will bring within the reach of every California family a health plan of their own choosing and selection that they will control. They don't have to worry about losing a job or staying in a dead-end job because they have to keep their health care. If your employer chose your grocery store for you, I'll guarantee you two things: It will be cheap for the employer and it will be very inconvenient to you. And health plans are no different. We've got to bring within the reach of families again control over their own health plans. When I proposed that as an alternative to the Healthy Families Plan, the legislative analyst's office reviewed it and said we could provide much, much broader coverage at much lower cost than the bureaucratized system that was ultimately offered.

MODERATOR: I've thought of something to make this a whole lot more controversial in the area of health care. So why don't each one of you tell us how much money the state of California should spend on health care for the kids of illegal immigrants? Who wants to go?