Schwarzenegger becomes latest Republican to back Obama's healthcare overhaul plan

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today became the latest Republican to back an overhaul of healthcare, as the Obama administration gathers support for what it hopes will be the final bipartisan push.

In a prepared statement, Schwarzenegger, generally more liberal on social issues than most of his fellow Republicans, stressed the need for action. "I believe in the vital importance of this issue and that it should be addressed through bipartisan cooperation."

The governor, who is termed out, cited goals he shares with Obama, such as slowing the growth in healthcare costs and ensuring a strong economic recovery. "I appreciate his partnership with the states and encourage our colleagues on both sides of the aisle at the national level to move forward."

Schwarzenegger joins the bipartisanship parade of healthcare reform backers that includes former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, the former Health and Human Services secretary in the Bush administration. New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, elected as a Republican but now an independent, has also backed reform.

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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks at the second Governors' Global Climate Summit in Los Angeles in this September 30, 2009 file photo. Schwarzenegger voiced support for President Barack Obama's health care drive October 6, 2009, calling on Republicans to back efforts to reform the system. Schwarzenegger, a Republican who has repeatedly emphasized the need for a bipartisan approach, said he agreed with Obama's efforts to overhaul health care. "Our principal goals -- slowing the growth in costs, enhancing the quality of care delivered, improving the lives of individuals, and helping to ensure a strong economic recovery -- are the same goals that the president is trying to achieve," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.  (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

Comments

[nathan]

this health care plan is a joke.. america as we know is freaking screwed... someone had to say it... obama = failure

[Christopher Reed]

Are you sure that "lastest" is a word?

[Steffen]

Thank you Governor Schwarzenegger, a Republican who is interested in solving problems and not childish, destructive negativity at the expense of getting things done for the country.

[jethro]

Sorry, Governor, you are a pathetically dim bulb. Probably a CFL.

[JML]

I'm so sick of people saying they don't want healthcare reform because it's going to cost X amount of money and it's socialized this and that. Fine...let's leave it like it is...just don't bitch about the 20% increases every year.

Alot of critics and little solutions being offered.

[Mick]

It should come as no great surprise he would have us believe our government must do it -- because everyone in Europe does. (p.s. -- I was born in Europe and moved here because of similar issues)

Another entitlement program that will be paid by ??? More taxes... on whom... we see what the world thinks about redistribution of wealth:

1) Run to Gold
2) Run away from the US $$ -- and the United States
3) Create new world base currency (Sino-European currency of sorts)

Net impact will lower our standard of living.

Im packing my bags and closing my business soon, that'll add some more people onto the US dole !

[DJ]

The latest??? You listed ONE liberal republican!!!!! This thing is doomed. Jut wait until next falls elections.....this president is already a lame duck!!!! Stop him at all costs!!!

[steve]

in the uk i have paid probably $40-50,000 (approx est.) in tax in the last 3 years, and when I went to consume the NHS, I had to wait 6 hours while a bunch of newly arrived, untraceable East Europeans, African, and Terrorist-looking people were given priority. Not one smiled or acknowledged the staff who were wroking themselves through exhaustion by the looks of things.

Private vs Public? it is about the osmosis of stupid peoples into the heartland of the achieving peoples and dragging it to ruin.

[Greg]

Moving forward does not entail enlisting Republican support, moving forward means taking control of our health. Moving forward means enhancing our physical fitness and improving our health. Use the tools at your disposal to lead a healthier lifestyle. This will have a more significant effect than anything congress can do. Use online tools like Holosfitness.com to get in shape, stay in shape, and lead a healthy lifestyle.

[George]

It occurred to me that most people who oppose health care reform do so not because they fear their insurance will be weakened (all of those opposing have insurance), they oppose it rather because they are covered and they simply want to have something that others do not have. If you talk about what is American and un-American, this selfishness is un-American.

[truth to power]

Single payer universal is the sign of a civilized nation.
Anything less is UN-American.

[Michael Markowsky]

As a Canadian living down here in Los Angeles, I have never understood why Americans tolerate such an dysfunctional health care system. Why do Americans freely donate billions of dollars toward starving and dying people in countries on the other side of the planet, and yet feel contempt toward their very own fellow Americans when they get sick?!

Several years ago I got into a bicycle accident and broke both of my arms simultaneously. While I was in tremendous pain, my greatest fear was whether my insurance would cover me. Rather than walk the two blocks to the hospital, I walked twenty blocks to my apartment and had my roommate call my insurance company. Several hours later, after I was assured I was covered, I took a taxi to the hospital. Apparently this is typical for most Americans! When I tell this same story to my Canadian, Australian and British friends, they look at me in horror, as if I was living in some primitive third world country.

One day, when the US gets proper healthcare, Americans will kick themselves wondering why on earth they waited to so long!

[Dave]

A republican he is not.

[Sky Anderson]

The Governor now support Obama's health care measures because he knew it would get him good publicity. He got amounts of money in donations from AT&T for his political campaigns and a charity that he controls. He signed a bill which took control of cable away from the local cities and gave it to a commission he controls. We lost our citizens public accesss TV because of his selfishness.

[oxoz]

No health care reform. Period!

When people get sick, do whatever to take care your own . America is for those who can afford to buy their own health care only .

[Misterioso]

Surprise, surprise...another "Republican," just like George Bush, that turned out to be a political pragmatist, lacking integrity, pimping out California and this country to this and that special interest group for votes. Completely indistinguishable from their leftist bedfellows. How many bankrupt government programs is it 'gonna take for the people in this state/country to finally figure out that the government takes money from the people for programs and then spends it elsewhere? Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid are all bankrupt. California is bankrupt. The American government is bankrupt. And now people want healthcare, one seventh of the U.S. economy to be taken over by the government? Keep drinking the big government Kool-Aid and say goodbye to your country. Americans are on self-destruct.

[Misterioso]

Obama's healthcare plan is, in part, a smokescreen to use the money taxed for healthcare to pay for the ailing pension plan of the autoworkers. Hence his close association with big union mucky-mucks and the government takeover of the auto industry. Plain and simple...we're being had.

[greg]

Arnold isn't a CFL - he's CFR.

The Repulican this, Democrat that blather is so ridiculous - how can anyone buy that false left/right paradigm in 2009? Two criminal sides of the same coin. Those complaining about 'critics without solutions' are avoiding the base issue that federal government has no Constitutional authority being involved in 'health care', education or dozens of other social programs whatsoever.

The solution our society of entitled whiners has missed is to take care of yourself, pay your own way, and not look to government and everyone else to solve your problems real or imagined. While you're at it recognize that government puppets and the banker elite pulling their strings are doing everything possible to enslave you - they're not your friends. That would be some real hope and change now wouldn't it?

[Pancho]

Crummy political manuvering. VP candidate for 2012?

Arnold, did such a better job than Gray Davis, right? Not a Republican but a Marxist in the midst.

Why not advocate a flat tax for the US?

Advocate interstate insurance and medical malpractice reform for a start.

[jay]

While technically true, Arnold really has not been a Republican since he was elected......Or at least acting like one............

[Sambo]

What? Do you mean there are actually some Reps. out there who wish to resolve the health care issue instead of the usual grandstanding and whining?
I'm shocked.
I hope Obama does succeed in getting this to pass. It will be the ultimate victory and a round won against the neo-cons.

[Diana]

somehow that does nothing to comfort me; In fact it only worries me more.

[Raul Marquez]

Arnold did not endorse the abomination that government
healthcare conceals. He said:
" it should be addressed through bipartisan cooperation".
The Party-controlled Federal government has already
declared that bipartisanship will happen when heck freezes over.

[tnhll]

I'm not surprised Schwarzenegger backed the Democrat Party healthcare legislation. I can only conclude that he is a Republican by political convenience. Most Americans don't want anything to do with the proposed plan.

[Robert Kaiser]

Another politician infected by a disease called "Liberalism"