Dear Editor,
One of the reasons I went to Sacramento was to try to make a
difference on access to healthcare in California.
Dear Editor,

One of the reasons I went to Sacramento was to try to make a difference on access to healthcare in California.

It’s a broken system. Businesses must choose between salary increases and keeping up with healthcare costs. Seniors find themselves on limited incomes hitting the “donut hole” in pharmaceutical coverage. And over six million Californians don’t have health coverage at all – with the rest of us covering through higher rates and tax dollars the cost of what limited health care they get.

The federal government, which should take the lead in fixing the system, has been missing in action. The single payer system the legislature put on the governor’s desk last year was vetoed. Legislative Democrats successfully placed coverage for all of California’s kids in the legislative budget – but it did not survive the “Big Five” negotiations due to strong opposition by legislative Republicans.

Yet the planets seem to be aligning for action on healthcare this year in Sacramento. The leaders of the Assembly and the Senate have proposed health plans, as has the governor. Senator Kuehl will also reintroduce a single payer plan.

The governor’s plan is interesting as much for its scope as for the details. He proposes covering all kids; having businesses provide health benefits or pay into a fund; raising MediCal reimbursement rates substantially; using health insurers to expand access but capping their rates and requiring that they take everyone; mandating individuals to buy health care; and charging a fee on the revenues of physicians and hospitals.

Everyone gains something and gives something. Health insurers have to take everyone, but they get additional business. Physicians and hospitals pay new fees, but get increased revenues from MediCal patients. Uninsured individuals get health coverage, but will pay all or some of the cost.

It is a good start. Some hope this is a plan on the way to single-payer coverage. Others believe this is a reasonable solution by itself. Assembly Democrats do not like the individual mandate. Republican legislators oppose fees in the governor’s plan, calling them new taxes.

But what the governor has done is focus the discussion on the goal. If different parts of his plan are dropped, the balance between winners and losers will break and the plan could fall completely apart – which is why progress has not been made in recent years.

I am hoping the governor’s proposal will lead to a discussion of what people WILL support that results in major progress. Stay tuned and weigh in with your opinion.

Assemblyman John Laird, Representative,

27th District

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