Joe Dunn, the CEO of the California Medical Association, and Dustin Corcoran, vice president of government relations, attended a LACMA board meeting in January to discuss the CMA's response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health reform proposal.

Although the CMA opposes the governor's 2 percent tax on physicians, the association plans to partner with the governor and the Legislature, Dunn said. "We want to take a political strategy that ensures we're at the center of the debate, driving the discussion," he said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play a part in real healthcare reform. We want to do this right."

In the next few months, more legislators will present their solutions. "But eventually, the governor and the Legislature will look to a voice that has the credibility to craft a plan that works in reality and survives the political process," Dunn said. "Then they need to sell that voice to the people of California. We know that voice is the physicians of California."

Dunn believes Gov. Schwarzenegger's commitment to solving the uninsured crisis and wide political influence will bring huge change to California's health system.

"When the governor first presented the health plan, California physicians had a choice," Dunn said. "Do we want to take down the plan and play a game in the press? Or do we want to sit at that very small table and actually craft what will ultimately be the health reform plan?"