California's New Health Care proposal

California Health care plan facing opposition

Sacrmento Bee  (California State Capital)  [registration required]

By Aurelio Rojas

January 6,2007

Even before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger formally unveils his health care plan Monday, fellow Republicans in the Legislature are vowing to block any plan that provides coverage for illegal immigrants...

But if the past is, indeed, prologue, Republicans could hold up the budget as they did last year until Schwarzenegger and Democratic lawmakers gave up on a proposal to provide $23 million for county programs that insure children, including illegal immigrants.

Providing universal health coverage for children in California who do not have insurance could cost the state $250 million to $400 million a year, according to various estimates.

Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula, said such a proposal would not make economic sense, "because we're staring at a budget deficit that's several billion dollars."

According to the nonpartisan legislative analyst, California is facing a $5.5 billion deficit in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Ruth Liu, Schwarzenegger's associate secretary for health policy, said the administration is still "developing all components" of the plan.

Schwarzenegger has made health care his top priority. He says he wants all uninsured Californians -- children and adults -- to have insurance, with individuals, government, employers, medical providers and insurers sharing the costs. That would cost an estimated $12 billion a year -- and the governor has been steadfast in his opposition to raising taxes.

In other California news,  strange weather patterns may bring snow to parts of California next week that haven't seen snow since 1976.    Weather, and water, are critical issues to California, for tourism, agricultural, and public health reasons.

The Sacramento Bee noted a new DVD flood-plain video this week in the suburb of Natomas that highlights the fact that much of that region is a flood plain.  In fact, it is little appreciated that much of the California capital district area around Sacramento is protected by levees and is actually below sea level, as was New Orleans.    Any change in weather patterns brings a new risk of flooding.

In the Sacramento Bee there was an article and a whole series following Katrina related to the flooding issues. This is from the article "Tempting Fate: Are we next" published in the Bee on October 27, 2005.  (For reference, Hurricane Katrina hit in late August, 2005)

There is, however, no major city in America more at risk of a catastrophic New Orleans-style flood than Sacramento.

 Compared with other big cities, Sacramento is marked by a potentially deadly combination of geographic, hydrological and demographic factors unmatched anywhere in the United States.

Take a look at the collection of strikes against us:

• We sit at the confluence of two major rivers, the Sacramento and the American.

• They drain vast watersheds that begin high in the mountains, meaning a major flood would come with staggering volumes and ferocious velocities.

• Huge sections of Sacramento - including miles of neighborhoods, the downtown commercial center and the state Capitol - rely on levees to keep from going under in times of high water.

• Unlike other cities that sit on high ground or bluffs above rivers, much of flood-prone Sacramento sits lower than the levees and the rivers at flood stage.

• Sacramento's levees offer less protection than those in many other cities.

Officials worry they could fail or overtop if a large late winter or early spring storm system brought more water than they were designed to handle. Warm "Pineapple Express" systems are especially feared, because they can sidle up against the mountains, rain for days, and cause too much snow to melt at once and barrel down river corridors.

•... According to the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency, more than 300,000 people and 140,000 structures are in the direct path of a serious flood in Sacramento.

In the eyes of the nation's top flood experts, only one other big city could rival Sacramento for the top catastrophe-prone title.

And it [New Orleans]  has been largely destroyed.

Will the weather get worse, not better?   Max Mayfield, who just retired as Director of the National Hurrican Center had this to say:

Hurricane Center Chief issues final warning

LA Times

January 3, 2007

MIAMI — Frustrated with people and politicians who refuse to listen or learn, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield ends his 34-year government career today in search of a new platform for getting out his unwelcome message: Hurricane Katrina was nothing compared with the big one yet to come.

Mayfield, 58, leaves his high-profile job with the National Weather Service more convinced than ever that U.S. residents of the Southeast are risking unprecedented tragedy by continuing to build vulnerable homes in the tropical storm zone and failing to plan escape routes.

And he argues that his dire predictions don't have to become reality.

The technology exists to build high-rise buildings capable of withstanding hurricane-force winds and tropical storm surge more powerful than those experienced in the last few years. Much of Hong Kong's architecture has been built to survive typhoons, and hotels and apartments built in Kobe, Japan, after a 1995 earthquake devastated the city are touted as indestructible, he said.

What is lacking in the United States is the political will to make and impose hard decisions on building codes and land use in the face of resistance from the influential building industry and a public still willing to gamble that the big one will never hit, he said.

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