Seeking to end the health reform stalemate, the Legislature’s democratic leaders this week issued a new health reform proposal, which would provide health insurance for California’s 6.8 million uninsured. The most significant concession in the new proposal is that it contains an individual mandate requiring all Californians to have health insurance.

The new Democratic proposal would require employers to dedicate up to 6.5 percent of their payrolls to cover employee health care or pay into a state-run insurance purchasing pool. It also includes a $2-a-pack tax on tobacco to help pay for expanded coverage.

“Using tobacco dollars to pay for expanded access to health care for Californians is the kind of breakthrough commonsense proposal we’ve been looking for this year,” says CMA President Richard S. Frankenstein, M.D. “This proposal signals a real commitment by legislative leaders to find a way past the current stalemate on health care.”

Click here for more details on the latest Democratic health reform proposal.

Contact: Dustin Corcoran, 916/444-5532 or dcorcoran@cmanet.org.