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‘Universal Health Care’ Bill Is Back on Legislative Docket

Spectrum staff and wire

A “universal health care” bill by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton is on the Legislature’s plate as lawmakers near their Sept. 12 deadline for sending bills to the governor.

Burton, D-San Francisco, has signaled that his SB 2, introduced in December but amended several times since then, will be voted on by both houses before legislators leave Sacramento.

An Assembly and Senate conference committee has been working on the bill’s details since mid-July.

In its current form, the proposal would provide up to 1.2 million Californians with health insurance coverage through a plan that would be financed mostly by employers.

The bill would require employers with at least 20 employees to either provide health insurance for their workers or pay a fee to a state fund that would obtain the coverage. The fee would be set by the state’s Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board.

Employers would have to pay at least 80 percent of the cost of the policies, with employees picking up the rest. Companies with at least 200 workers also would have to cover an employee’s dependents.

The bill’s requirements would start Jan. 1, 2005, for employers with at least 200 workers and Jan. 1, 2006, for companies with 20 to 199 employees. Employers with fewer than 20 workers would be exempt.

Employers who already offer health coverage would be helped by the bill in several ways, sponsors said. They would pay reduced insurance costs associated with caring for the uninsured and would face fewer competitors who save money by not buying coverage for employees, Burton said.

The bill also would help smaller employers obtain affordable coverage and save the state money by reducing what it spends to care for people not covered by private insurance, he claimed.
The cost of coverage would be tax deductible for employers.

“We have a chance to insure half of the working uninsured in this state, bring health care costs down for responsible employers and save the state money,” Burton said in late August. “Does it go as far as I personally may have wanted? No, but it’s a reasonable approach that we can get passed.”

The bill has some business support, but the California Chamber of Commerce has condemned it, saying it would impose a “burden employers cannot absorb” and would discourage employers from hiring more workers.

“The bill stifles job creation in California,” said Richard Costigan, a chamber lobbyist. “You will never add a 20th employee, never add a 200th employee because costs go up dramatically when you add that employee.”

Votes for previous versions of SB 2 have been split down party lines, with Democrats supporting the bill and Republicans opposing it.

Gray Panthers, the Older Women’s League and other seniors’ lobbying groups support the legislation.