May 24, 2007

Blue Cross goes there

Robert  Salladay
Los Angeles Times 

Blue Cross of California wades into the health-care debate today with a new advertising campaign pushing the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on health-care reform--while casually dropping a little bomb by raising the specter of the energy crisis that sunk the previous administration.

"Unintended consequences do happen," the new ad says. "Other states have tried healthcare reforms like 'guaranteed issue' that sounded good. They now have the highest premiums in the country while California has the lowest. Sound familiar? Remember how the rash deregulation of the energy market in California spawned power outages and soaring rates? Let's not go there again."

Schwarzenegger Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy and senior advisor Daniel Zingale worked in the Gray Davis administration during the height of the chaotic energy crisis, which was spawned by the Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson in 1996. Now, Kennedy and Zingale (who worked in the Dept. of Managed Health Care under Davis) are leading negotiations on health-care reform for Schwarzenegger.