Comprehensive Health Care Coverage

SB 921 (Kuehl), Health Care for All Californians Act

June 2004

SB 921 (Kuehl) is now before the Assembly Health Committee, and will be heard June 22. This hearing is of greatest importance since it is the only action planned for SB 921 during the 2004 legislative year.

IF YOUR ASSEMBLY MEMBER IS A MEMBER OF THIS COMMITTEE, PLEASE CALL, WRITE, OR FAX A LETTER IMMEDIATELY TO EXPRESS YOUR SUPPORT! Contacts are especially needed for a few assembly members who may be supportive but have not committed to vote for the bill. Important points to make are listed below.

• Members of the Assembly Health Committee are: Assembly Members Cohn [chair], Spitzer [vice-chair],Chan, Chavez, Dutton, Dymally, Frommer, Koretz, Lieber, Montanez, Nakanishi, Nakano, Negrete McLeod, Pacheco, Richman, Ridley-Thomas, Salinas, and Wolk.



• Forward this alert to people you know with a request for immediate action.



• Thank assembly members who support this bill.

LEAGUE POSITION: The LWVUS Health Care position promotes a health care system for the United States that provides access to a basic level of quality care for all U.S. residents and controls health care costs.

BACKGROUND: SB 921 (Kuehl), the Health Care for All Californians Act, uses a "single payer" model to provide health care coverage to all Californians through a single health care system. The state of California would administer the system and control the growth of health care spending through a simplified administrative structure, consolidated financing and purchasing, and statewide health planning. Health care delivery within the system would remain private, and providers would be reimbursed for their services from the system's single state health care fund. Health care decisions would be made by the patient and his or her health care provider. Patients would be free to chose the provider of their choice at all times.

IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT SB 921:

• SB 921 corrects the underlying problems of inefficiency, waste, and partial or no coverage that continue to undermine California's health care system. High administrative costs, overpriced pharmaceuticals, unneeded capital expenditures, and unnecessary emergency room use by uninsured and underinsured persons place a burden on all of us.

• SB 921 provides for universal coverage and comprehensive benefits while making very significant state savings in health care spending. In the short run, it adds no new spending for health care, but shifts funds from administration to the provision of services to more people. In the long run it controls the growth in health care spending.

• SB 921 provides tools for effective cost control which would greatly reduce the cost of health care administration from approximately 30 percent under the current system to five percent. These tools include statewide consolidated administration; bulk purchasing power to gain pharmaceutical discounts; an annual state health care budget with caps, adjusted for economic growth, to allow the plan to provide stable and predictable revenues for hospitals, clinics and providers; integrated statewide health care planning; and universal primary and preventive care.

• SB 921 provides full health coverage and security for every California resident, including prescription drugs and mental health coverage, regardless of income or employment. The uninsured and underinsured would have health benefits, and no one would ever lose coverage because of employment status or be denied coverage due to a preexisting condition.

• SB 921 would sustain fair and full compensation for providers and provider services and give relief to counties and the state which have had to provide the "safety net" for uninsured Californians.

• SB 921 would provide for fair cost sharing, spreading the cost of health care across society.

• SB 921 provides for a governance structure which is publicly accountable and provides strong controls to maintain a stable system for delivery of quality care.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please see "Additional Background for SB 921" or contact the LWV California Health Care Program Director at bs_lwv004@cox.net.

NOTES: Address letters to:

The Honorable (full name of assembly member)
California State Assembly
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, CA 94249-0001

Re: Comprehensive Health Care Coverage SB 921

Dear Assembly Member (last name of assembly member):

Mail/fax letters to the assembly member's Sacramento office and to the district office if you have a strong relationship with the district staff.