Legislative Democrats advanced their health care reform plan last week, when the Senate Health Committee approved AB 8 by a partisan vote of 7 to 4. The bill would provide health care for millions of uninsured Californians and require employers to dedicate at least 7.5 percent of their payrolls to cover employee health care or pay into a state-run insurance purchasing pool.

AB 8 is backed by both Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata as a joint Democratic health care reform plan. The bill would also expand eligibility for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families and contains various insurance market reforms, including a requirement that insurers provide guaranteed-issue health insurance for individuals and spend at least 85 percent of premium dollars on health care. Currently, a number of major insurers in California spend less than 80 percent of premiums on patient care, with the rest going towards administrative costs and profits. While CMA is supportive of the general framework of the proposal, there are a number of issues we will fight to resolve.

The bill expands coverage for the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs, but does not increase the state’s dismally low Medi-Cal physician payment rates. This plan cannot work without a Medi-Cal rate increase. We will also fight to strike the pay-for-performance provisions and make sure that insurers maintain adequate physician networks. CMA will insist on other amendments to ensure that access to care (not just coverage) is considered in any reform plan.

Click here for more information on the health care reform debate, including a detailed summary of this bill.

Contact: Lisa Folberg, 916/444-5532 or lfolberg@cmanet.org.