Amann: "Let Arnold Crush Me."

by: BranfordBoy

Thu Jan 11, 2007 at 07:38:20 AM EST

State House Speaker Jim Amann, addressing a business crowd in New Haven, lowered expectations that Connecticut would follow states like California in trying to pass universal health care this year. He said he'd rather do it right than compete for headlines.

However Amann did guarantee that within two months the legislature will pass a plan to cover all 71,000 uninsured children in Connecticut, 66 percent of whom are Latino.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this week made his state - which has 162.5 times more uninsured people than Connecticut - the latest to put forward a universal plan. California has an estimated 6.5 million uninsured. Schwarzenegger vowed to pass a universal plan in this year's legislative session, following on the heels of Massachusetts.

For a cocky, self-assured, in-your-face kind of guy, Amann can really sound like a wuss when he wants to.

"We may be able to do that. But I think it will take a few years to get this thing done right. It's going to be done in pieces," Amann told the crowd.