Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is concerned about the health of his fellow Californians. He is encouraging people to incorporate dried plums — previously referred to as prunes — into their diet by proclaiming January 2007 as “California Dried Plum Digestive Health Month.” Oh, and by the way, he is also proposing that all Californians have access to health insurance.
It’s funny how some stories just draw bigger headlines than others. When you think about it, these two proposals are similar in intent: They could both benefit the health of Californians, and help the state economy as well.
As far as the prunes are concerned — I mean plums — they have a unique combination of nutrients, and are one of the best ways to maintain and improve digestive health, according to the experts. The governor says that by consuming dried plums, not only would Californians be improving their health, but they would help strengthen the state’s agricultural industry. California produces 99 percent of the plums distributed in this country and 60 percent of the world’s plum supply.
For those who are opposed to Schwarzenegger’s other health proposal, adding plums to their diet is probably advisable, since portions of it might be hard to digest. From the governor who came into office in 2003 denying undocumented immigrants the right to a driver’s license, now comes a plan that would provide free health insurance for all, with or without legal immigration status.
Yes, the Republican governor is moving to the middle on this one, but regardless of whether or not he is doing it for political gain — now that Democrats seem to be in vogue — his proposal makes perfect sense.
In presenting the plan, Schwarzenegger reminded everyone that “there is no debate about whether to provide medical care for people who are in the country illegally.” Federal law requires that anyone who shows up in an emergency room must be treated. “The question is: How can we treat them in the most cost-effective way?”
Thousands of dollars are being spent to treat a simple nosebleed, the governor said, when patients could just be seen by a doctor for a lot less. At least 60 emergency rooms in the state have closed in the past decade because they cannot afford to treat people without health insurance. And there are a lot of them.
Approximately 6.5 million Californians do not have health insurance. That constitutes one-fifth of the state’s population. More than 1 million of them are children; of those, 13 percent are undocumented children. Providing health insurance to those who don’t have it could cost up to $12 billion a year — between $250 million to $400 million for kids alone. The cost, according to Schwarzenegger, would be shared by individuals, government, employers and medical providers.
But whatever the cost, it’s less than having to deal with the higher costs of treatment, premiums and co-payments. Not to mention that the price of health insurance is rising twice as fast as inflation and wages.
The governor’s no-nonsense arguments will be a hard sell for those who cannot see beyond their anti-
immigrant rage. Even before the plan was officially presented, a nationwide poll conducted by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at San Jose State University showed that while 52 percent of those questioned thought the state should guarantee health insurance for everyone, only 37 percent supported the idea when they heard that undocumented immigrants would be included. Not surprisingly, the majority of them were Schwarzenegger’s fellow Republicans.
Like so many other things that come out of trendsetting California, the governor is hoping that his health proposal will create a model that the rest of the nation can follow. Lack of health insurance is one of the country’s most serious problems. More than 45 million Americans are uninsured. If everyone would take his suggestion of adding plums to their diet, the idea might be easier to digest.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www
.mariaesalinas.com)
© 2007 by Maria Elena Salinas
Distributed by King Features Syndicate