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California Labor Federation Votes to Support Health Reform Bill With Amendments
By Art Pulaski
Executive Secretary-Treasurer
California Labor Federation
As you may know, the California Labor Federation and its affiliates have been working hard all year to achieve real, affordable health care reform for California's working families. This week, the California Assembly passed a revised version of its latest health care reform bill, ABx1 1. At this point, we've voted to take a "Support if Amended" position. However, we still need to see the ballot initiative language (which would outline how the program will be financed) along with additional amendments to make the plan work for working families.
Here are some details about AB x1 1:
HIGHLIGHTS:
• Employers will contribute 1% to 6.5% of payroll (depending on the size of the payroll) towards employee health care.
• Employers who choose not to contribute directly to employee insurance will pay the same amount into a public purchasing pool. Their employees will get a 20 percent discount on premiums through the purchasing pool.
• The purchasing pool will also be able to negotiate discounted rates on prescription drugs.
• All children below 300% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) will be covered by public programs like Healthy Families or Medi-Cal. Legal adult residents earning less than 250% of the Federal Poverty Level (about $25,000 a year) will also be eligible for public programs.
• Families between 250-400% of FPL ($50,000-$80,000 a year for a family of four) will receive tax credits to help them pay their premiums.
• No one who is subject to the individual mandate could be denied coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition.
• Health care providers will be required to offer transparent, comprehensive information about the cost and quality of health care services to all purchasers, including our union trust funds.
• Health insurance companies will be required to spend 85 cents of every premium dollar on actual health care services, rather than profit and overhead.
• A public insurance option will be established to compete with private insurers.
OUTSTANDING CONCERNS:
• The bill fails to outline what will be included in the minimum health insurance plan that all California families will be required to have.
• A family of four earning $82,000 a year will not quality for any subsidies to help them pay for health care costs.
• As health care costs continue to increase faster than the rate of inflation, we need to factor in a mechanism to increase the employer contribution accordingly; otherwise, working families will wind up paying for all future increases through higher deductibles and premiums, or decreased benefits.
• Employers do not have to provide health care for both full- and part-time (or high- and low-wage) workers, so they will be able to meet their obligation while only providing health care for higher-wage or full-time workers.
We have been working since January to hammer out a reasonable health care plan that won't impose an unfair financial burden on California's working families. As the reform process continues to move forward, we encourage the Legislature to amend this bill into a health care reform plan that is affordable, accessible, and comprehensive for all Californians.
Art Pulaski is Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, which represents 2.1 million members of 1,200 manufacturing, service, construction, and public sector unions.
Comments
Should interesting to see how this unfolds in the future.
Posted by: Shawn at December 23, 2007 03:07 PM
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