New California Democratic Health Plan Would Significantly Expand Public Programs

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

• Comparison with Prior Democratic and Governor's Proposal
• Would Require Californian to Have Health Insurance, But Conditioned on Affordability

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

Democratic legislative leaders on Tuesday announced out their latest health reform proposal, as the framework for a potential agreement with Governor Schwarzenegger. The press release is available at the website of Speaker Fabian Nunez.

The framework would provide more help to more Californians in getting affordable coverage than either the Governor's plan or the legislative leaders' previous proposal, AB 8. It also moves in the direction of the Governor's proposal in key areas, including spreading the financial burden among a broader range of contributors, and introducing a requirement that all Californians buy health coverage--although only if coverage is deemed affordable.

The new bill, AB X1 1 (the first bill in the first extraordinary session of the legislature) will be formally introduced as legislative language later this week. It is expected to be heard in the Assembly Health Committee hearing on November 14th. Financing elements of the plan, which include a hospital fee, employer fee and a $2-a-pack tobacco tax, would appear before voters in November 2008.

THE HISTORY: The latest proposal, by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate Pro Tempore Don Perata, is the latest legislative volley in the health reform debate, which began nearly a year ago when both leaders introduced separate plans. That was followed by the governor’s January release of a 10-page concept paper. The leaders then merged their plans into one bill, AB8, sent that to the governor, who vetoed it in October. That same week, the Governor finally released the legislative language of his proposal, which largely mirrored his January proposal. This new proposal is the legislative leaders' attempt to deal with all the issues raised by the Governor in his veto of AB 8.

THE PRESS CONFERENCE: Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez hailed his proposal as a "breakthrough," and mentioned that "the tumblers are falling into place," and when the Governor moves, California "will finally unlock" the puzzle of health care reform. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata acknowledged that "we've been doing this a long time," and "if it was simple, it would be done: it's not simply, and it's not done." But again, he emphasized that this would be the framework of a deal with the Governor, if the Governor met them with the significant steps that they took.

SUBSTANCE: WHAT’S IN THE BILL: Many of the concepts in the latest proposal closely follow what lawmakers have been discussing all year, with some adjustments: