Several sources are suggesting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrats in the state Legislature are very close to a deal on a universal health care program for California. The devil is definitely in the details with health care, but one encouraging aspect of the current negotiations is how little effort most interest groups have made to derail it.

Republicans have been marginalized on the issue. The Washington Post quotes Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines, the Clovis Republican, calling the emerging deal "a one-way road to disaster. The state's GOP is content to let the governor and the Democrats take their case for whatever plan is produced to the voters.

One thing that has puzzled me for years in this debate is the absence of big employers pushing for changes. I've always thought it was in the best interests of corporations big and small to have universal health care, since it would remove often huge burdens of the companies themselves. Universal health care in this country would make American companies more competitive in global markets. Now it looks like at least some executives agree.

The San Francisco Chronicle quotes Safeway's Steve Burd, head of a group called the Coalition to Advance Healthcare Reform, this way: "This is consuming so much of the gross domestic product that it runs the risk of us being uncompetitive." Hurd also told the Chron there's been a "sea change" among employers because of rising health care costs.

Better late than never.