Governor Schwarzenegger on Tuesday officially released his revised health care reform proposal. Thanks in large part to CMA's aggressive advocacy, the 2 percent tax on doctors is not included in this new proposal. The broad concepts of the governor's $14 billion plan, however, remain the same.
The proposal would:
require all Californians to obtain private insurance, either individually or through their employers;
guarantee that everyone has access to affordable coverage by limiting on how much insurers can charge based on age or health status;
subsidize coverage for individuals earning less than 250 percent of the federal poverty level;
prohibit insurance companies from spending less than 85 percent of premiums on actual patient care;
provide a tax credit for insurance expenses that exceed 5 percent of a family's income;
require employers who do not offer health care coverage to contribute up to 4 percent of total payroll to cover the cost of providing health insurance to their employees.
Although CMA has not taken an official position on the proposal, we believe it is moving in the right direction and are supportive of the governor's efforts to provide health care coverage to more Californians.
