California State Assembly Passes Landmark Healthcare Reform

Yesterday the Calif. State Assembly voted  45-31 in favor of a bill that would make healthcare more secure and affordable for those who currently have insurance, and provide coverage to millions who don’t. AB x1 1 is an historic step forward that will provide healthcare coverage to nearly 4 million people. This is a massive and historic expansion, the largest single expansion of healthcare coverage since Medicare and Medicaid were founded over 40 years ago.

“Our healthcare has been deteriorating,” said Annelle Grajeda , president of both the SEIU California State Council and SEIU Local 721, “and individuals and families are being hit hard from all sides. This bill is a strong foundation that will make our healthcare more secure and accessible for millions of Californians who can’t afford to wait any longer.”

Fundamental trends in healthcare need to be fixed:

• Having a job and working hard no longer guarantees healthcare . Over 80% of California’s 6.5 million uninsured are members of working families.
  
• Businesses are struggling to provide healthcare and many are dropping coverage. According to the UC Labor Center, only 57% of the population received coverage through their employers in 2004, down from 59% in 2000.
  
• Costs keep increasing . According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, healthcare costs increased 123% between 1990 and 2004, far more than inflation, economic growth, or wages.
  
• Preventive care is eroding as more people are forced into high-deductible, catastrophic plans and can’t afford to take care of basic health needs.
  
• As individuals and businesses struggle, drug companies and some insurance giants like Blue Cross spend millions to stop reform because they profit from our current, flawed system.

Here are highlights of the proposal’s scope, ambition, and strengths

• AB x1 1 would expand coverage to nearly three quarters of California’s uninsured - 95% of Californians would be insured.
  
• With a sliding scale employer contribution between and 1 and 6.5%%, depending on the size of payroll, AB x1 1 establishes a minimum standard for employer-based health coverage.
  
• AB x1 1 helps make healthcare affordable for low and moderate-income Californians (up to 400% of poverty, around $82,000 for a family of four) and for early retirees above 400% between ages 50 and 64. It also includes hardship exemptions.
  
• AB x1 1 launches fundamental reforms to control costs, including: Public disclosure by health insurers, hospitals, doctors and nursing homes of information on costs and quality; bulk purchasing of drugs; limits on insurance company profits and overhead; a new statewide purchasing pool with purchasing power 3-4 times as large as Cal-PERS; and new prevention and wellness initiatives