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Legislation
Bills of interest to health care consumer advocates from the 2009-2010 legislative session
Health Access California sponsors, advocates for, and tracks health consumer legislation in Sacramento. To see a fact sheet outlining our current position on the health care legislation we are following, click here: 2009 Pending Legislation Impacting California Health Care Consumers. (November 13, 2009)
To read the complete text of any bill including amendments, please visit the California Legislature Bill Information website to lookup information by bill number, author, or keywords.
2009-2010 Session Health Consumer Bills:
(AB = Assembly Bill; SB = Senate Bill)
 = Support |
 = Don't Support |
 = Stalled |
 = Watching |
INSURER REGULATIONS
Insurance Oversight & Market Reform
AB 786 (Jones): INSURANCE MARKET STANDARDS - Would sort health insurance policies into a number of categories, based on benefit comprehensiveness and cost-sharing. Organization of plans into these categories and standard terminology would enable consumers to better track premium, benefits and cost-sharing, and assist consumers in making comparisons across plans.
AB 1521 (Jones): BROKER COMPENSATION - Would place limits on how health insurance brokers are compensated by insurers.
AB 1218 (Jones): HEALTH INSURANCE RATE APPROVAL - Requires HMOs and health insurer to get approval for increases in premiums and cost-sharing from DMHC and DOI, respectively.
AB 119 (Jones): GENDER RATING - Would prohibit insurers from charging different premium rates based on gender. Signed by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
AB 29 (Price): DEPENDENT COVERAGE - Would allow individuals up to age 27 to remain on a private insurance policy as a dependent, but employers are not required to contribute to the cost of coverage for dependents over 23.
SB 316 (Alquist): CAPPING ADMINISTRATION AND PROFIT - Would set a minimum medical loss ratio - requiring every insurer to spend at least 85 percent of premiums on patient care.
AB 722 (Lowenthal): PRE-EXISTING CONDITION EXCLUSION - Would prohibit individual insurance plans from denying coverage due to a pre-existing condition.
AB 812 (De La Torre): MEDICAL-LOSS RATIO REPORTING - Would require health plans to submit annual reports on their medical-loss ratio to the state, and requires the state to establish uniform medical-loss ratio reporting standards.
SB 92 (Aanestad): OMNIBUS HEALTH REFORM MEASURE - Narrows definition of medical necessity; allows association health plans; Health Savings Accounts for CalPERS, commercial HMOs and insurers, and Medi-Cal; allows sale of health insurance across state lines, voiding state consumer protections and financial solvency requirements; weakens utilization review requirements; eliminates mandates for pap smears, mammograms, childhood immunizations, diabetes supplies and numerous other protections but only for those below 350%FPL; changes Medi-Cal to defined contribution plan, including for persons with disabilities; and numerous other provisions.
AB 326 (Garrick): HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS - Would allow a tax deduction for health savings accounts to be used with high-deductible health plans.
SB 353 (Dutton): HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS - Would allow a tax deduction for health savings accounts to be used with high-deductible health plans.
Recissions
AB 2 (De La Torre): INDEPENDENT REVIEW - Would create an independent review process when an insurer wishes to rescind a consumer's health policy, create new standards and requirements for medical underwriting, and requires state review before plan approval. Also raises the standard in existing law so that coverage can only be rescinded if a consumer willfully misrepresents his health history. VETOED by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
AB 730 (De La Torre): POSTCLAIMS UNDERWRITING - Would impose fines on insurers unlawfully engaging in post-claims medical underwriting. VETOED by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
AB 108 (Hayashi): TIME LIMIT - Would impose a 24-month time limit in which insurers have to rescind, cancel, or limit individual health care policies or charge higher premiums because of fraud once a consumer's application is approved. Signed by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
Benefit Mandates
AB 98 (De La Torre): MATERNITY COVERAGE - Would require all individual insurance policies to cover maternity services. VETOED by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
AB 214 (Chesbro): DURABLE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT - Would require most health plans to offer coverage for durable medical equipment, (e.g. wheelchairs and shower seats).
AB 244 (Beall): MENTAL HEALTH PARITY - Would require most health plans to provide coverage for all diagnosable mental illnesses. VETOED by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
Improved Insurance Options
SB 227 (Alquist): HIGH-RISK POOL - Would require insurers to accept members of the high-risk pool at the rate set by MRMIP or pay a fee used to fund MRMIP. Would also increase the tobacco tax funds dedicated to fund MRMIP.
SB 57 (Aanestad): HIGH-RISK POOL - Allows insurers to sell policies with "riders" that exclude coverage for a medically uninsurable condition. Creates a "rider" pool for applicants. Increase eligibility barriers for MRMIP, deletes cap on cost-sharing, requires MRMIP to include option compatible with Health Savings Accounts, increase the annual benefit limit in MRMIP plans to $150,000, and increase the tobacco tax funds dedicated to fund MRMIP.
HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS
Transparency: Cost and Quality Data
SB 196 (Corbett): HOSPITAL CLOSURES - Requires public notice of hospital closure or reduction/elimination of emergency medical services. VETOED by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
Doctor and Hospital Oversight
AB 542 (Feuer): HOSPITAL-ACQUIRED CONDITIONS - Creates regulations around non-payment of hospital-acquired conditions, and bans hospitals from billing patients or insurers for such conditions.
AB 171 (Jones): CONSUMER PROTECTIONS - 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. Signed by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
Hospital Transactions
AB 1383 (Jones): HOSPITAL COVERAGE DIVIDEND FEE - Would, per federal approval, impose a coverage dividend fee on hospitals for the purpose of increased reimbursement and children's coverage expansion. Adopted with urgency. Signed by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
AB 342 (Bass): HOSPITAL WAIVER - Repeals the existing waiver authorization which expires September 2010, and acts as a placeholder for waiver discussions with the federal government. Adopted with urgency.
SB 208 (Steinberg): HOSPITAL WAIVER - Repeals the existing waiver authorization which expires September 2010, and acts as a placeholder for waiver discussions with the federal government. Adopted with urgency.
Balance Billing
AB 1503 (Lieu): EMERGENCY ROOM FAIR PRICING - Would limit the amount that emergency room physicians and surgeons can charge an uninsured or underinsured patient with income below 350% FPL.
COVERAGE EXPANSION
Medi-cal
AB 963 (Ammiano): ELIGIBILITY PROCESSES - Would update and streamline Medi-Cal administrative computer systems and enrollment/renewal processes.
AB 1142 (Price): PROOF OF ELIGIBILITY - Would require hospitals, as soon as they have proof of a person's Medi-Cal eligibility, to provide all information regarding that person's Medi-Cal eligibility to all other providers. Signed by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
AB 1037 (Lowenthal): MANDATORY MANAGED CARE FOR SENIORS AND PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES - But only in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
AB 1269 (Brownley): DISABLED WORKERS - Would allow, to the extent that federal financial participation is available, workers with disabilities who are otherwise eligible for Medi-Cal but are temporarily unemployed to elect to remain on Medi-Cal for a period up to 26 weeks. Signed by the Governor on October 11, 2009.
Unemployed Workers
AB 23 (Jones): Cal-COBRA - Would require insurers to provide notice to individuals eligible for Cal-COBRA that federal funds are available to assist with Cal-COBRA premiums. Signed by the Governor on May 12, 2009.
SB 727 (Cox): Cal-COBRA - Would require a health insurer to offer continuation coverage to a person covered under a group plan if the employer terminates the plan and does not provide a successor group benefit plan to its employees.
SB 796 (Alquist): Cal-COBRA - Would delete the requirement that COBRA coverage must be exhausted in order for an individual to qualify for access to individual health coverage under HIPAA.
Children's Coverage
AB 1422 (Bass): HEALTHY FAMILIES FUNDING - Restores funding for Healthy Families by re-imposing a voluntary assessment on Medi-Cal managed care plans. It would also increase the premiums paid by families for Healthy Families coverage. Signed by the Governor on September 22, 2009.
SB 1 (Steinberg): UNIVERSAL CHILDREN'S COVERAGE - Expands Healthy Families to 300% FPL and creates a Healthy Families buy-in for children in higher income families.
SB 114 (Liu): FOSTER YOUTH - Would smplify the Medi-Cal renewal process for youth in foster care.
Universal Coverage
AB 1314 (Jones): COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE - Would require the California Health and Human Services Agency to engage with stakeholders to develop a plan to enact broad-based reforms to the state's health care system, and to present the plan to the Legislature no later than April 1, 2010.
SB 56 (Alquist): COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE - Would create the California Health Benefits Services Program for the purpose of expanding cost-effective public health coverage options to the uninsured and purchasers of health insurance.
SB 810 (Leno): SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM - Would establish a single-payer health care system in California that would enable all residents to have health coverage.