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California Health Legislation
One of the most important factors for health insurance and
health providers in the state of California is health
legislation. In this ever-changing world, new bills become
law and old laws are rewritten.
You see the effect of California Health Legislation every
time you receive your paycheck; Some of your compensation is
deducted for state and local taxes and fees, and another
part for healthcare. What you don't see is how those
deductions help our great state.
California health legislation has provided for more medical
facilities, better advancements in cutting-edge healthcare
development, and medical care for those who cannot afford a
regular doctors visit. We can also thank those deductions
for providing emergency medical services and the
infrastructure which supports all of the health-related
operations in the state. Lets face it: Without legislation,
the best plans for healthcare become nothing more than
plans.
California is leading the way for providing affordable
health care coverage for more of the population, and this is
accomplished through new legislation. Below you will find a
summary of some of the more important legislation which has
recently been passed, is under development now, or is on the
horizon. All current bills regarding healthcare can be seen
at
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html.
California Bill AB-8
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez’s (D-Los Angeles) health
reform proposal (AB 8) aims to significantly expand
affordable health coverage for Californians. The bill
establishes a "pay or play" system and requires employees of
firms that “pay” to enroll in the newly created California
Cooperative Health Insurance Purchasing Program (Cal-CHIPP)
to receive coverage. The proposal expands eligibility for
public health insurance programs for children and parents.
The proposal also aims to improve access to coverage on the
individual insurance market. The proposal would be financed
through employer and employee contributions and new federal
matching dollars. The proposal includes specific elements to
help control health care costs.
California Bill AB-1
This bill would expand eligibility for the Medi-Cal
program and would expand eligibility for the Healthy
Families Program by allowing children with family incomes at
or below 300% of the federal poverty level to qualify for
the program and would delete the specified citizenship and
immigration status requirements.
California Bill AB-2
The bill would, effective January 1, 2009,
require a health care service plan and a health insurer to
elect to either make available all of its group or
individual health benefit plans to individuals in each
service area, or to alternatively pay a fee covering its
market share, as determined by MRMIB, of MRMIP's costs.
California Bill AB-53
This bill would rename the Office of AIDS the Office of
HIV/AIDS Prevention and Education, and would require that
the department establish within the office 6 regional
HIV/AIDS centers, as prescribed. The bill would require the
department to fund culturally and linguistically appropriate
outreach programs in each of those regional centers designed
to significantly increase rates of early HIV/AIDS testing,
and provide individuals who test positive for HIV or AIDS
with appropriate referrals for care and medical treatment.
The bill would require the department to work
collaboratively with community-based organizations focused
on HIV/AIDS prevention services, and to utilize all
available private services and existing partnerships to
conduct outreach to populations that typically have little
or no exposure to HIV/AIDS information. |
