Interestingly enough, I'll be the only native Californian living on our island paradise. Jen and her two friends hail from the small cow town of Kinderhook, N.Y. -- about an hour south of Albany. With a population numbering in the hundreds, not even thousands, Kinderhook is a place only a select few can call home. It's probably just about as far from San Francisco as one can get -- geographically and in every other way, from population to cost of housing to the livestock factor (when was the last time you saw a cow strolling the streets of San Francisco?).

Regardless, I'm excited about my new home and look forward to living with three small town folks.

-Gabe

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The meetings, which were held at state offices throughout California and involved everyone from HMO executives to consumer groups, have been concluded. Indeed, they were finished weeks ago. The proposals raised by those meetings have been submitted to the Davis high command. But the Davis administration's long-awaited plans for HMOs have yet to be announced, although the administration earlier promised that it would have them ready by May. The reasons for this delay are not clear, but suspicions are mounting rapidly in the Capitol that the governor's commitment to HMO reform is starting to wither, in part to please the HMO and business communities, and that the final "reform" package may be considerably less than what Davis and his minions have implicitly promised.

About two out of every three Californians obtain their medical treatment through some form of managed care, so the question of HMO reform is critical indeed.

Over the years, the public has urged any number of changes in the way HMOs operate, including the right to sue HMOs over questioned medical treatment, the right to an impartial, third-party medical review of HMOs' medical decisions, the assurance that medical decisions are not made for financial reasons, and the like. Bills to do all that, and much more, are currently before the Legislature.

Publicly, Davis has said little about HMOs. He said doctors should make medical decisions, a notion that few can quarrel with. But last week, he sent an odd signal to the Legislature in one of his few public comments on HMOs. He told key lawmakers that too many HMO-related bills -- about 65, by one count -- are wending their way through the Legislature, and that he would be unwilling to consider so many pieces of legislation. He told legislators to to focus on a few bills and let the others go, and he indicated he would appoint a task force -- which would include HMO executives -- to study the issue.

But the statement that a new task force should be created caught HMO reformers by surprise. That's because the Davis administration said earlier it would take the testimony it received at the dozen or so private meetings and come up with a game plan. Instead of a final proposal, however, the governor now wants to appoint a task force that will study more, talk more and include the views of HMO executives who may be expected to oppose the very reforms that consumers are demanding.

Moreover, the large number of HMO-reform bills in the Legislature is indicative of the public's concern about HMOs. By arbitrarily slashing those bills, the administration is demanding, in effect, that HMO reforms be curtailed. The governor didn't say this, but this is the clear message of his statements.

Privately, some HMO-reform advocates believe the reason that Davis has thus far declined to unveil his HMO package is because HMO executives are wielding increasing influence in his administration at the expense of consumers and patient-rights groups. This perception, true or not, is starting to color the views of those who supported Davis in the belief that he would improve the state's regulation of HMOs.

What will Davis do? Thus far, nobody is really sure. But the feeling is growing that whatever he does will not please those who seek to wield tight controls over HMOs.

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