Rich Pedroncelli / AP Members of AARP listen as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls for healthcare reform during an AARP rally in Sacramento on Wednesday.

SACRAMENTO — A day after lawmakers finally put to rest the long-delayed state budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told about 1,000 AARP members at a Capitol rally Wednesday, "The next thing we're going to conquer is healthcare reform."

As the budget delay dragged into August, many observers feared the yearlong effort to expand healthcare coverage would be squeezed off the legislative agenda. But Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez predicted Wednesday a reform bill would be approved before the legislative session adjourns Sept. 14.

"I can guarantee you we will get this done," Schwarzenegger said.

"I think we can do it," said Nuñez, D-Los Angeles.

Adding to the momentum was the release of a Field Poll that found 69 percent of California voters dissatisfied with the healthcare system in the state — up from just 44 percent nine months ago.

Over the next 3 1/2 weeks, Democratic legislative leaders and the governor must negotiate over significant differences in their two plans to broadly expand insurance coverage to include all or most of the state's 6 million uninsured residents.

Both plans rely largely on requirements that all employers either provide health benefits to workers or pay a fee into a state purchasing pool that would buy insurance for their workers. But the governor's plan also requires individuals not covered under the employer mandate, such as the self-employed and retirees not yet eligible for Medicare, to buy individual insurance policies on their own.

Additionally, there are significant differences between the fees contemplated — 4 percent of payroll under the governor's plan, 7.5 percent of payroll under Nuñez' bill. The Democratic plan would also provide a higher level of subsidies to low-income workers than is proposed by Schwarzenegger.

Those attending the rally, however, did not seem concerned with the details. Their message was more direct: Just do something, now.

That is the message AARP leaders asked those at the rally to deliver to legislators. As the rally on the Capitol lawn ended just after noon and workers passed out bottles of water from ice-filled barrels, state executive director Tom Porter told those in the crowd their mission was "to take the heat inside."

Among those in attendance was Dan Herlinger, the retired chief executive officer of St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.

"I know firsthand the urgency of fixing our system," Herlinger said.

He noted 10 Southern California hospitals have closed emergency rooms over the past five years because of financial losses caused by the flood of uninsured patients. They use emergency rooms because they are the only places they can receive care of any kind.

"It's a ridiculous distortion of how a healthcare system should work," he said.

After speaking at the rally, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, told reporters he did not share the governor's and the speaker's optimism and suggested Schwarzenegger may have to call a special session in the fall to complete the job.

Perata said the challenge will be to bring additional revenues into the system in order to keep the fees charged employers to a minimum.

"The more revenue we can put into it, the more we can broaden the base," he said. "Seven and a half percent is a scary number. We have to be able to drive it down."

The Legislative Counsel's Office has issued an opinion that the employer fees do not meet the constitutional definition of a "tax" and thus could be adopted by a majority vote of the Legislature.

Other potential revenue sources would likely be considered taxes and would be subject to a two-thirds majority vote — a huge political hurdle because it would require the votes of at least a handful of Republican lawmakers who have vowed not to support tax increases.