BILL NUMBER:  AB 1825
  VETOED	DATE: 09/30/2010




To the Members of the California State Assembly:
I am returning Assembly Bill 1825 without my signature.
While I acknowledge the author's effort to address the reason for the
last three vetoes on similar measures, the bill continues to
represent a significant barrier to affordable coverage.  I can
appreciate the policy arguments, but none of the organizations
lobbying for this bill's passage must represent the individuals and
families struggling to pay for their existing health coverage.  Nor
are any of these organizations offering to help families pay for
their increasingly expensive coverage.   It is a familiar effort in
which supporters demand more and better coverage, until the cost for
that coverage is added up.  Ironically, some of these same
organizations then turn around and blame the health insurance
companies for charging too much for the benefits they themselves
demanded.  I firmly believe you can't have it both ways.
The passage of federal health reform will have broad and
consequential impacts across our state and nation.  Affordability is
the one area in which the hard decisions remain unresolved.  However,
if left unaddressed, the lack of affordability will undermine the
entire reform effort.  Leaders, at both a national and state level,
must accept this responsibility and be willing to make the decisions
that are politically unpopular, but represent a long-range solution
to the problem.
This bill represents a one-sided solution that hurts many
hard-working Californians by increasing costs as well as the number
of uninsured.   For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill.
Sincerely,

Arnold Schwarzenegger