Silicon Valley Leadership Group Supports Gov. Schwarzenegger's Health Care Reform Principles

Governor Meets with Top Business Executives at Seagate Technology in Sunnyvale for Update on Progress of Comprehensive Reform

The Silicon Valley Leadership Group hosted a CEO roundtable meeting with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today in a strong demonstration of business community support for the key principles of the governor’s health care reform proposal.

Nearly 50 CEOs, senior executives and other Silicon Valley business leaders joined the Governor and his staff for the meeting at Seagate Technology in Sunnyvale, where they discussed the progress of the reform effort.

“We support the governor’s vision for comprehensive health care reform this year,” said Carl Guardino, CEO of the Leadership Group, which represents 210 Silicon Valley employers. “When your leg is broken, you get to a doctor right away. When your health care system is broken, it should get the same immediate attention.”

“As an employer, we know that our employees are our greatest asset in keeping competitive,” said Bill Watkins, Seagate CEO and vice chair of the Leadership Group board of directors. “That’s why we share the governor’s commitment to four key principles of reforming health care in our state – a focus on wellness, shared responsibility, making sure everyone in California is covered, and eliminating the hidden tax Californians currently pay to cover the uninsured.”

Accompanying the governor at the meeting were the state’s Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Belshé, Business, Transportation and Housing Secretary Dale Bonner and Senior Health Policy Advisor Herb Schultz.

Other companies represented at the meeting were: Affymetrix, Amtel, Applied Materials, BD Biosciences, Borel Private Bank & Trust, California State University East Bay, Camino Medical Group, Cassatt Corporation, Centrify, Colliers International, eHealth, eMeter, Foothill/DeAnza Community College District, Fusionize, Golden Gate University, IFS, Kaiser Permanente, Lightspeed Logic, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Los Gatos Community Hospital, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, M Squared, MetricStream, New United Motor Manufacturing, Optimal Corporation, Planktos, Plantronics, Presencia Technology, Proto Services, Scios, SVB Financial Group, Symantec, Synopsys, Tidal Software, Trimble Navigation, Varian Medical Systems, West Valley Staffing Group, and Xeolux.