California Health Reform Bill Advances in Special Session

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

• Assembly Health Committee passes Democratic leadership’s health measure, ABX1 1
• 60 witnesses testify for over three hours
• Floor vote set for week after Thanksgiving

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

For another time this year, the Assembly Health Committee Wednesday passed comprehensive health reform legislation aimed at expanding coverage to a significant swath of California’s 6.5 million uninsured. The newly reconstituted Assembly Health Committee voted on the first health reform bill of the special session, ABX1 1 (Nunez/Perata) and vowed to send the bill to its Senate counterpart by the end of the month. The bill passed on a 10-5 party-line vote.

The committee also rejected an Assembly Republican proposal, AB X1 8, which opponents said would decimate the state’s HMO Patient Bill of Rights and other consumer protections, and promote high-deductible health plans through Health Savings Accounts, leaving more people underinsured in the state.

AB X1 1 goes beyond the ideas laid out in the previously passed – and vetoed -- AB8 (Nunez/Perata) and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s own health care proposal, formally released and debated last month. In spite of its many iterations, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez stressed that ABX1 1 is still a work in progress. “What you have here is not a perfect document, but I would ask everybody to always compare it to the current health care system,’’ he said.

To get a more comprehensive analysis of what’s in ABX1 1, click here.

In summary, ABX1 1 would:

Significantly expand public programs to include:

• Children and parents up to 300% of the poverty level ($61,950 for a family of four),

• Childless adults up to 250% of the poverty level ($25,525 for an individual),

• And tax credits for families between 250% and 450% of poverty to help ensure that the cost of health care does not exceed 6.5% of income.

• Establish a minimum employer contribution of 6.5% for businesses with higher than a $250,000 payroll. Businesses with a smaller payroll would pay less.

• Require all Californians to have health coverage, as long as it was “affordable.’’ “Affordable” means that a family pays no more than 6.5 percent of its income on premium and out-of-pocket costs.

• Require insurance companies to sell coverage to every Californian, spend 85 cents of every premium dollar on health care and prohibit companies from charging sicker enrollees higher rates.

• Create a state-run insurance purchasing pool that would allow Californians to benefit from group negotiated rates.

• Contain the underlying costs of healthcare through public disclosure of cost and quality, bulk purchasing of prescription drugs, and the offer of a public insurer option.

• Establish a $2-per-pack tobacco tax and 4 percent fee on hospitals, in addition to federal, local, employer, and individual contributions to pay reform.

DEBATE AND DISCUSSION