THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
At the LWVC Convention in May, I attended a workshop titled "Fixing Our Broken Health Care System." Speakers addressed the facts of the crisis and the two pending bills in the Legislature.
Since that time, SB 2, the Health Insurance Act of 2003, was passed, requiring all employers of more than 50 people to provide their employees with health insurance or pay into a fund to provide it. Well over four million of the six million uninsured will be covered. It now faces a coalition of California business groups trying to force a referendum on the March ballot to repeal it.
State Senator Sheila Kuehl will hopefully introduce her bill SB 921, the Healthcare for All Californians Act, in the next legislative session. This bill, which is strongly supported by the LWVC, creates a publicly financed system of universal health benefits for every Californian, while saving the state significant dollars in health care spending. SB 921 includes prescription drugs and mental health coverage regardless of income or employment.
In 2002 the State of California concluded a 1.2 million-dollar study called the Health Care Options Project. The HCOP analyses of three single payer plans on which SB 921 is based found that they would save billions annually while still providing comprehensive health care. The study concluded that by removing the health insurance industry from the health care loop, Californians could save 7.6 billion dollars a year while providing comprehensive services. SB 921 would eliminate the burden of excessive costs to employers, would sustain fair and full compensation for providers and give relief to counties that have had to provide the "safety net" for the uninsured.
Locally, the recent failure of Measure Q to gain a two-thirds majority vote (over 60% did vote for it) leaves our county with the continuing problem of providing that safety net without a new source of revenue. The escalating health care crisis will impact us all.
Our January 14 "Lunch and Learn with the League" will address the subject of single payer, universal health care. Please join us to learn more about this vital issue.
--Beverly G. Bean, President, LWVMP
