Wrong Diagnosis in Autopsy on California Health Reform

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

Daniel Weintraub has his own post-mortem of health care reform in the Sacramento Bee. This should not be the last word on the subject.

First, there's some straight-out inaccuracies: For example, he states that the Legislature's original proposal, AB 8, "would cover only employees," when in fact it had public program expansions based on income, not employment, for both children and adults. He also stated that the final negotiated plan, AB x1 1, did not cover part-time workers (when, in fact, part-timers were covered, largely under the public program expansions--the question was whether employers would have to pay a contribution on them as a specific population).

There's glaring omissions: the fact that consumer groups don't get any mention at all is telling in Weintraub's worldview. Or that the Governor only released legislative language for his proposal, not to mention make any movement on policy--a month after the legislative session had ended, in October. The timing mattered, since it was a crucial reason why the effort ultimately ran out of time a few short months later.

But the biggest problem is Weintraub's thesis statement, as proposed in the final sentences of the first paragraph:

"The bill died in a partisan crossfire, opposed from the beginning by conservative Republicans and ultimately killed by liberal Democrats. It was a centrist approach in a Capitol where centrism has become a dirty word."

AB 8 was also opposed by Sen. Kuehl and those organizations who oppose major health reforms that are not single-payer. (This is a distinct group from many organizations who support single-payer as well as other health reforms, including Health Access.) Such attacks didn't help AB x1 1 and are certainly part of the mix... but there are other key reasons that AB8 passed and was placed on the Governor's desk, and AB x1 1 wasn't. The notion that AB x1 1 died at the hands of liberal purity doesn't make sense when AB8 passed the Senate floor a few short months earlier.