Health care proposals shine spotlight on state’s uninsured
By EMILY SKEHAN I Special to the Daily Press
CITYWIDE In a year of health care hype — with the passage of a universal health coverage bill in Massachusetts last April, the media buzz surrounding Michael Moore’s film “Sicko,” and three state reform proposals that have shined a spotlight on California’s uninsured — this weekend is one to watch.
On Saturday, Sen. Sheila Kuehl, who represents Santa Monica, will be one of the key speakers at a downtown rally in support of non-profit universal health insurance coverage SB 840,a bill she is sponsoring.The same morning,Santa Monican Michael Rodriguez will be among those randomly selected to share their opinions on health care with lawmakers such as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez at the CaliforniaSpeaks conference in Hollywood.
“I’m just blown away,” said Karen Weiler, a Santa Monica resident who had just exited a showing of “Sicko,” Moore’s investigative documentary about the for-profit American health care system. “Here, you think you live in the richest, greatest country in the world, but in terms of taking care of ourselves, there’s no unity.”
The currently uninsured Weiler hadn’t heard of the health care proposals making a splash in the Capitol, but said she would support universal health care by any name — as long as it was honest and had no strings attached.
“I think one of the reasons “Sicko” was so stunning to many people was because it wasn’t about the problems facing people who don’t have health insurance, but about the problems facing those who do,” said Sen. Kuehl on Friday.
There are currently more than 6.5 million Californians without health insurance — more than any other state in the nation. Three competing health care reform proposals, including Kuehl’s, are circulating in Sacramento this summer in attempts to address the issue, with plans ranging from mandated insurance to universal, government-administered coverage.
In January, Gov. Schwarzenegger and his staff unveiled a comprehensive proposal that would require every Californian who files a state income tax return to carry a minimum level of health insurance.
Under the Schwarzenegger plan, employers with more than 10 workers must spend a minimum on employees’ health care or pay a fee to the state. This reform would cover 4.1 million more Californians — about three quarters of those who are currently uninsured — and cost approximately $12 billion, to be funded by employer fees, new fees on physicians and hospitals and new federal money for public programs.
“The governor’s reform aims to fix the broken health care system and address hidden taxes,”said deputy press secretary Sabrina Lockhart. “It relies on everyone in the state taking equal responsibility.”
One alternative to this proposal is Assembly Bill 8, sponsored by Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, which passed the assembly in June, the Senate Health Committee in July, and was subsequently referred to the Appropriations Committee, where it remains today.
The bill, which would cover about 3.4 million more Californians than are currently insured, and cost approximately $8.3 billion — to be funded with employer fees and increased federal support — follows a “play or pay”system for employers.
The bill would reform the private insurance market by creating simplified medical underwriting, such as a standardized application form for all insurance companies that would clearly underline what pre-existing conditions might make a patient uneligible. It would also require health plans to offer three uniform benefit packages to allow for comparison shopping.
A third health care reform plan is that sponsored by state Senator Sheila Kuehl of the 23rd district.
Senate Bill 840 would cover all Californians through a single-payer system where every resident pays into the system through taxes, receives state-administered insurance and gets to choose their own doctor. In this system, private insurance companies would be eliminated, except in cases of supplemental coverage.
SB 840 would initially cost the state approximately $6 million to transition from private insurance to state-controlled coverage, but Kuehl commissioned a Lewin Group study that concluded the system would eventually provide significant savings to the state by eliminating most administrative costs. The bill would be funded by an increase in payroll taxes — anticipated at 3 to 4 percent for individuals and 8 percent for employers, an additional income tax on those earning more than $200,000 and anticipated administrative and prescription drug savings.
“Sen. Kuehl has introduced the only plan that has any hope of containing health care costs without dismantling the system,” said Kuehl’s representative Sara Rogers, who says her office constantly hears from constituents who cannot afford insurance, or who are covered but not receiving quality care. “It takes insurance companies out of the role where they are making important health care decisions that should be left to physicians and patients.”
Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill last year and is anticipated to do so again if the revised version makes its way to his desk.
“One out of every eight Americans lives in California,” said Kuehl, “so all the information we have about the crisis in American health care is worse in California than anywhere else because of our numbers.”
The three proposals will be among those issues discussed today during the live, televised statewide forum entitled CaliforniaSpeaks. The event will gather thousands of California residents — including hundreds of Los Angeles residents — via satellite, to share their voices with legislators.
Gov. Schwarzenegger, Nuñez, Perata, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, and other Republican and Democratic legislators involved with CaliforniaSpeaks will be attending events across California today.
Long-time Santa Monica resident Michael Rodriguez is among those attending the Hollywood venue. Rodriguez, who has lived here for 35 years, worked as a salesman for a chemical manufacturer for seven years before losing his position. He is currently uninsured, and shortly after losing his employer-provided health insurance, had to go to the emergency room for a kidney stone.
Rodriguez didn’t even spend a night at the hospital, but the visit cost him $8,000.
“In a way, I do represent Santa Monica residents,” said Rodriguez. “I’m a middle class individual. I’m educated, but I’ve worked my entire life up until now. This one time, I didn’t have health insurance and, lo and behold, I had this kidney problem just fell through the cracks.
“Something out of the blue can hit you in the pocketbook.”
Rodriguez feels the conference is a great idea because “the people that are supposed to represent us in Sacramento really need to just sit down and listen to their constituents.”
“When you don’t have a comprehensive health care plan that’s going to be affordable to the masses, people like myself resort to home remedies or just ignoring their problems because they can’t see a doctor, or because they’re afraid of what going to a hospital might cost them,” he said this week.
Concerned Angelenos, along with grass-roots campaigners and Sen. Kuehl herself, will gather on the downtown lawn of Los Angeles’ City Hall today at 1 p.m. to protest health insurance profits. About 5,000 Californians are expected to attend, and the protest will feature entertainment with Lily Tomlin, live music, celebrity hosts, victims of the health care crisis, and inspirational talks from California health care reform leaders. Speakers include Sen. Kuehl and Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi.
“The significance of the rally is not only to build support for universal health care through a medicare-like system in California,” said Senator Kuehl, “but also to demonstrate to the governor, to the legislature and to the press how much support there is for such a system like that in SB 840.”
Andrew McGuire, executive director of Health Care For All, a non-profit that organized the event in support of SB 840, explained that Saturday’s rally is the culmination of 365 days of activism across California. Beginning in small towns last August, his organization has staged protests every day across the state leading up to today’s event.
“Nothing like this has ever happened before in our nation,” he said of Saturday’s event, “it’s the largest rally for single-payer universal health coverage in U.S. history.”
McGuire says he doubts Sen.Kuehl’s bill will pass anytime soon due to political calculations, but the upcoming presidential elections might shake things up enough to facilitate change.
“I think that when we get a mass movement going,everything changes politically,”he said.“I can’t predict if it’s going to be this coming year or five years from now. It all depends on too many factors that are out of our control.”
“What I can predict is that we’ll be working today and tomorrow and every day this year and next year, building the grassroots movement.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 11, 2007. Read the original PDF.