Bill Renews Fight for Guaranteed Health Care

SACRAMENTO —  A bill aimed at guaranteeing health care coverage for every Californian by 2003 was launched Wednesday by the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.

Committee Democrats prevailed over Republicans and sent the bill by Sen. Hilda Solis (D-La Puente) to the Appropriations Committee for another hearing.

The measure represents the first time since President Clinton’s controversial universal health care package was rejected by Congress in 1994 that the California Legislature has tackled the issue.

“This is not the Clinton health plan,” the committee was told by Karyn Gill, president of the League of Women Voters of California, a supporter of the Solis bill. “This is going to have input from everybody.”

The highly publicized Clinton plan failed partly because some interests said they were shut out of the bill-writing process.

Unlike previous state health care bills that would have taken effect in shorter time, the Solis plan would commit the state to guaranteeing insurance coverage for the working poor and other low-income Californians by July 1, 2003.

The bill, SB 840, does not address the tough question of who would pay for the coverage--taxpayers, employers or both. Instead, financing for the plan would be devised by Gov. Gray Davis in his proposed 2003 state budget.

The bill also does not define the extent and scope of the proposed coverage.

Rather, those issues would be subjected to a thorough study by experts at the University of California, who would forward the results to state Health and Human Resources Secretary Grantland Johnson. In turn, Johnson would use the findings in developing recommendations for a universal health plan that would be submitted to the Legislature in 2001.

Helen Schauffler, director of the Center for Health and Public Policy Studies at UC Berkeley, testified that one in four Californians is not protected by health insurance--more than 7 million people.

She told the committee the number continues to expand despite California’s booming economy, lower than expected health care costs over the last few years, and the nearly complete transition of insured California residents into managed care organizations.

Most of the uninsured work at low-paying jobs, Schauffler said. “They have low incomes, but they are not poor enough to qualify for government programs. They either are not eligible for or cannot afford to purchase private insurance,” she said.

Solis told reporters she expects opponents to attack her bill as “socialized medicine” and to “try to turn off the public” to it. But she said the circumstances have changed since the Clinton plan failed and there may be a new realization among California policymakers that universal health care coverage must be dealt with.

The Solis measure is supported by a wide range of interests, including the California Medical Assn., Access Health California, organized labor, teachers, senior citizens and Democratic clubs.

At the committee hearing, no witnesses opposed the bill, including representatives of the managed health care industry or major employer groups.

Later, officials of the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Assn. of Health Plans said they have taken no position on the bill, but will watch it closely.