Health Access - 2007 Legislation

2008 Legislation

Home Advocating for Consumers in Sacramento Legislative Information 2008 Legislation

This page was updated 04/25/08
For the most up-to-date information on any bill, go to www.leginfo.ca.gov

Governor's Decisions on 2005 Health Care Legislation
Governor's Decisions on 2006 Health Care Legislation
Governor's Decisions on 2007 Health Care Legislation

2008 Bills of Interest to California Health Advocates
- printable version - April 23, 2008

Health advocates are actively working on the following bills, which includes efforts to expand health care coverage and provide consumer protections for patients. Also listed is the position of Health Access California, the statewide health consumer advocacy coalition working for the goal of quality, affordable health care for all.

See also our 2007 Policy Recommendations

Insurer Regulations

Insurance Oversight & Market Reforms

SB 1522 (Steinberg)

INSURANCE MARKET STANDARDS: Would sort health insurance policies into five coverage categories, ranging from “comprehensive’’ to “catastrophic.’’ Organization of plans into these categories would enable consumers to better track premium, benefits and cost-sharing, and assist consumers in making apples-to-apples comparisons between plans. Would weed out “junk’’ insurance by developing minimum benefit standards.

Sponsor- Support

AB 1554 (Jones)

RATE REGULATION: Would regulate insurance rates.

Amend

SB 1440 (Kuehl)

CAPPING ADMINISTRATION AND PROFIT: Would set a minimum medical loss ratio -- requiring every insurer to spend at least 85 percent of premiums of patient care.

Support

Rescissions

AB 1150(Lieu)	BONUSES: Would outlaw the practices of paying bonuses to insurance company employees when they rescind policies, setting targets for rescinded policies and/or setting financial goals based on savings on health care claims.	Support
AB 1945 (DeLaTorre)	INDEPENDENT REVIEW: Would require approval by Department of Managed Health Care or Department of Insurance for each individual rescission.	Support
AB 2549 (Hayashi)	TIME LIMIT: Would impose a six-month time limit in which insurers have to rescind individual health care policies for fraud once consumers’ applications are approved.	Support

Benefit Mandates

AB 1887 (Beall)	MENTAL HEALTH PARITY: Would require health plans to provide coverage for all diagnosable mental illnesses	Support
AB 1962 (DeLaTorre)	MATERNITY COVERAGE: Would require all individual insurance policies to cover maternity services.	Support
SB 1198 (Kuehl)	DURABLE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT: Would require group health plans and insurers to offer coverage for durable medical equipment, such as wheelchairs and shower seats.	Support

Improved Insurance Options

AB 2 (Dymally)	HIGH-RISK POOL: Would reform the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Program, which provides coverage for “un-insureables” who have “pre-existing conditions.’’ Efforts would make the high risk pool more affordable and available.	Support
SB 1622 (Simitian)	PUBLIC INSURER: Would create a statewide public insurer, connecting existing regional, county-based health care plans, to compete with private health care plans and provide consumers more affordable coverage choices.	Support

Inadequate Insurance

AB 2292 (Garrick)	HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS: Would allow Californians who have Health Savings Accounts, linked to high deductible health plans, to qualify for state personal income tax deduction.	Oppose
SB 972 (McClintock)	UNREGULATED PLANS: Would create organizations of small businesses that could purchase unregulated and substandard health insurance products.	Oppose

Health Care Providers

Transparency

AB 2967 (Lieber)	TRANSPARENCY AND DISCLOSURE: Would require public reporting of cost and quality by doctors, hospitals, HMOs and others in the health care industry	Support
SB 1300 (Corbett)	CONFIDENTIALITY CLAUSES: Would prohibit confidentiality clauses, which keep secret information on pricing and health care quality from consumers, in contracts between providers and insurers.	Support

Doctor and Hospital Oversight

AB 2146 (Feuer)	'NEVER EVENTS': Bans providers from billing patients or insurers when they have made an avoidable mistake, such as operating on the wrong person, prescribing the wrong drugs, or leaving foreign objects inside a surgery patient.	Support
AB 2942 (Ma)	COMMUNITY BENEFITS: Would standardize what non-profit hospitals report as “community benefits” to justify their non-profit status.	Support
SB 1633 (Kuehl)	PREDATORY LENDING: Would prohibit dentists’ offices from offering high-interest loans to patients while they are under the influence of anesthesia. Would also prohibit dental offices from charging lines of credit before services have been rendered.	Support

Hospital Transactions

AB 2400 (Price)	HOSPITAL CLOSURES: Would require public notice before closing a hospital.	Support
AB 2697 (Huffman)	BOUTIQUE HOSPITALS: Would require so-called "boutique hospitals" to assess their impact on a community's health system annually, specifically whether they siphon doctors, workers, providers from hospitals caring for less affluent populations.	Support
AB 2741 (Torrico)	HEALTH IMPACT ANALYSIS: Would require for profit hospital sales to undergo health impact analyses to gauge the transaction’s effects on the affected community, health care services, and the community’s public interest.	Support
SB 1351 (Corbett)	OVERSIGHT: Would require Attorney General oversight into transactions involving district hospitals.	Support

Balance Billing

AB 1203
(Salas)

EMERGENCY ROOM BILLS: Would prevent emergency departments – which do not have a contract with a patient’s insurance company -- from directly billing the patient for services, requiring the hospital to seek reimbursement directly from insurers.

Support

AB 2220 (Jones)

BINDING ARBITRATION: Requires providers and health plans to resolve contracting and payment disputes through binding arbitration.

Watch

SB 981
(Perata)

ER DOCTOR BILLS: Would prevent emergency physicians – who do not have a contract with a patient’s insurance company -- from directly billing the patient for services, requiring providers to seek reimbursement directly from insurers.

Support

Underserved Communities

AB 1472 (Leno)	HEALTHY COMMUNITIES: Would establish the California Healthy Places Act, and require diverse state agencies and departments to work together assess and reduce health disparities in underserved communities.	Support
AB 2902 (Swanson)	COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS: Would require the Office of Multicultural Health to encourage the use of community-based health care workers to help facilitate and coordinate better health outcomes in underserved communities.	Support
AB 3027 (De Leon)	LANGUAGE ACCESS: Would require health plans to translate materials into Medi-Cal threshhold languages	Support
SB 1332 (Negrete-McLeod)	MANDATORY MEDI-CAL MANAGED CARE: Would require seniors and persons with disabilities in Riverside-San Bernardino Counties to enroll in Medi-Cal managed care.	Oppose

Coverage Expansions

Working Disabled

AB 851 (Brownley)

MEDI-CAL FOR WORKING DISABLED: Increases eligibility for those working with disabilities to buy Medi-Cal coverage through the Medi-Cal California Working Disabled Program. Also extends the program, which will sunset 9/1/08.

Support

Children's Coverage

AB 1 (Laird/Dymally) SB 32 (Steinberg)	UNIVERSAL CHILDREN'S COVERAGE: Would expand children’s coverage, including the Healthy Families program, to all children in families up to 300% of poverty ($49,800 for a family of 3).	Support
SB 1168 (Runner)	DEPENDENT CARE: Would allow adult dependent children, who are still covered under their parents’ health plan, to stay on that coverage even if the child takes a medically necessary leave of absence from school.	Support
SB 1593 (Alquist)	BRIDGING COVERAGE: Would clarify that children currently covered by county health initiatives would be first in line to receive Medi-Cal and Healthy Families coverage once those programs are expanded.	Support

Universal Coverage

SB 840 (Kuehl)

SINGLE PAYER: Would establish a single-payer health care system in California that would enable all residents to have health coverage.

Support

For questions or an updated list, contact our policy coordinator in Sacramento, Hanh Kim Quach, at 916-497-0923, hquach@health-access.org.