The LAO Report on the California Health Care Reform Plan is our site of the day

The Office of the Legislative Analyst (LAO) released last night a 24 page report requested by Senator Don Perata on the fiscal effects and assumptions in AB X1 1, the health care bill authored by Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez, and the ballot proposition that is being proposed to fund it.

This report states on its first page that this proposal “would create one of the largest programs in state government and directly affect virtually every Californian.”

Steve Maviglio, Deputy Chief of Staff to Speaker Fabian Nunez made the following comment in response to the LAO report:

“The LAO report reflects the massive effort and many moving parts required to fix California’s broken health care system. The Speaker thanks Ms. Hill and her team for their typically thorough effort, and while we differ on some of the findings, we believe this report reinforces the overall soundness of the approach and financing for health care reform. The report also serves an important purpose in identifying every potential risk that’s in the realm of possibility, regardless of any particular assumption's grounding in probability. Any plan, including single payer and doing nothing, contains major risks. Just as insurers shouldn't cherry pick who they cover, opponents of health care reform shouldn't cherry pick comments from the LAO report to help make their case for maintaining the status quo. Our job now is to move forward with bringing California closer to the goal of universal coverage and to work hard to avoid, contain and manage any realistic fiscal risks associated with the plan. The best tool we have for doing that continues to be the plan's explicit provision that if funds aren't available, the plan doesn't take effect.”

We won’t cherry pick this report. We suggest anyone serious about public policy in this state taking a look at the report. You will see the complexities involved.

There will be a lot in the news and commentaries today about what the LAO report means. If you want further information, check out the California Channel broadcast of the hearing which is going on right now live or search the archives by the date of January 23, 2008 from this same page to view it later. The Legislative Analyst, Elizabeth Hill has testified and seeing and hearing her along with questions of the committee may further elucidate the issues and nuances involved.