California Insurance

Three months after Dir Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Year of Health” ended with a groan, dashing hopes for universal coverage in California, a number of bills, increased mandates on insurers and the implementation changes in the market move by the legislature.

No more there are large buildings to reduce the ranks of nearly 6.7 million Californians who are uninsured all or part of the year. The only thing that is universal agreement that more people are losing because of a blanket economic and maroden state budget deficit now estimated at 9 billion dollars.

“This is a perfect storm,” said Dr. Robert Ross, director of the Foundation of California, a leading Health Foundation. “I am more concerned about what happens with children, and there is not much that can be made for adults. “    

Given the economic constraints, the legislature has the rights of consumers and lobbying legislation to ensure that people, insurance covers procedures for the investigation of gynaecological cancers, diseases of orthodontics for ani palace.

But health plans and business groups argue that the powers - including coverage of maternity benefits, acupuncture and hearing aids - a leading insurance costs and increase the number of non - policyholders.

During an exit from the last week before the Assembly Health Committee, Nick Louizos, a lobbyist for the California Association of Health Plans, citing an independent audit of accounts coupled 11, the total cost of $ 2.7 billion.

The health assessment of California by the benefits program Review, created by the legislature came to the conclusion of more than 85000 people lose the same way as a result.

“Due to the large number of bills introduced the mandate of this meeting, we all invoices enemy, premiums increase, because we believe that accessibility reduced,” said Louizos, who testified against the bill with Representatives of the economy.

Anthony Wright, Executive Director of Health Access California, a coalition defending the rights of consumers to pay the costs of most of the bills in absolute terms.

Wright adopted the provision of a bill for the detection of gynaecological cancers - Assembly Bill 1774 General Assembly Woman Sally Dear, D-Mountain View - accounts for the lion’s share of health costs cited by the authorities of plans (approximately $ 2.1 billion).

And price charged to the projected cost is inflated because many health plans indicate that they have already demonstrations for a gynaecological examination.

“We tried first of all, supply is available, because too often cancers seen the end of the stage,” she said.

Senator Darrell Steinberg, Sacramento Democrats, the rebound over the next year as leader of the Senate, said the legislator, to implement market reforms that would not increase costs for health care .

Steinberg said his Senate Bill 1522, the process of obtaining insurance, insurers to offer five “benchmark” plans, easy-to-follow benefits and costs, so that consumers “apples-apples” or an insurance company to the next.

Steinberg is also the implementation of the cleft palate bill, Senate Bill 1634. And he came into contact with Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, in the legislative proposals, the ranks of 760000 children uninsured in the state.

Your Senate Bill 1 and Bill 32, the Assembly of State program healthy families through the involvement of children in families up to 300 percent of the federal budget poverty threshold ($ 49880 for a family of three).

“Unfortunately, we are not yet on a funding source,” said Steinberg. “But I think this year we can lay the foundations for an extension of the coverage in the future.”

In the meantime, the Democrats control of the legislature to combat scale back Schwarzenegger budget proposal for the reduction of health care.

Under the governor proposed budget, provider price would be $ 790 million, a significant reduction of access to health care for more than 6 million Californians on Medi-Cal, which serves the poorest in the country.

Take advantage of some $ 134 million, including elimination of dental plaque coverage of 3 million people.

The governor’s budget also planned to lower enrollment in the Medi-Cal of 122000 persons per recipient in a paper file every three months instead of annually.

Daniel Zingale, Senior Advisor to Schwarzenegger, admits more Californians without insurance in the coming year. Cash-umreiften companies, he said, are already reducing the use of coverage.

Accordingly, Zingale said the governor supports market participants reforms, which he believes drive health care costs, including greater “transparency” of the health system information and prices.

Schwarzenegger is also intended to halt the practice of “REDUNDANCIES” in which the insurer to terminate coverage because the patient left from a state in the application of purchase various health insurance funds.

Zingale said the governor feels increasingly optimistic, it is finally on its revitalization of universal health care proposal, who died earlier this year under the weight of almost $ 15 billion price.

“It is always a meeting with interest groups,” said Zingale. “We hope that something can be done in time for an election in the year 2009 or 2010 maybe the vote.”