[courtesy of California Progress Report]

• Reform efforts continue in 2008 on individual market reform and transparency
• Consumer protection measures focus on balance billing and rescissions
• Health advocates oppose bills to lower coverage standards

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

Undaunted by last year's failure to pass comprehensive health reform legislation , health advocates statewide are forging ahead on a three-year effort to win universal health coverage in California.

A number of bills have been introduced this year, which attempt to address various aspects of the health care market, and build upon last year's momentum and policy discussions. Many of the topics will be familiar to advocates who have worked on reform. In fact, many of the ideas being pushed this year were present -- in some form -- in ABx1 1 (Nunez). Those ideas include the disclosure of cost and quality data by health providers, a statewide public insurer to compete with private plans, and the organization of the individual insurance market into tiers and an ultimate ban on "junk" insurance.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

Later today, this year's budget battles win begin in earnest. And they will be ugly.

But before the budget battles begin, I would like to respond to those who question why we support a single-payer health care system and public program expansions, at the very same time we are actively engaged in fight over the bad decisions and priorities that elected officials sometimes make with regard to public health programs.

The question is comical, since it pre-supposes that we are naive, thinking somehow that everything that government does is right. That's far from the truth.

The answer is in the process we are about to go through. By all accounts, Governor Schwarzenegger will propose ugly cuts tomorrow. And he will propose those cuts rather than put forward a balanced approach that includes fighting for additional taxes and revenues to prevent the worst of those cuts.