After two previous vetoes from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, another single payer universal health care legislation is back on the ballot for the 2010 election.
The California Universal Healthcare Act, introduced by State Sen. Mark Leno, aims to universalize insurance for California residents under the California health care system. The system will be run by a new California Universal Healthcare Agency.
UCLA’s Legislative Affairs Action Committee of American Medical Student Association strives to inform students about the possible health care reform.
“This is a monumental reformation. If the bill passes, that would shake the foundations of how health care is distributed and paid for,” said Wonwoo Choi, a first-year biology and economics student and Legislative Affairs policy coordinator.
The bill, also known as Senate Bill 810, would affect all California residents, including those who may not want to participate in public health insurance.
Instead of paying private insurance companies, all residents of California would be required to pay an insurance premium to the state.
These payments, along with the money that California already spends on health care, would fund the new program, according to Leno’s SB 810 Web site.
There is no outside insurer option, but it is debatable whether individuals would be able to forgo the standing health care system and still receive treatment from private physicians, he added.
As for student insurance, those who currently cannot afford insurance will gain health care coverage.
For in-state students, the state-provided health care would replace the undergraduate student health insurance plan and the graduate student health insurance plan, so they would not have to purchase insurance, Choi said.
Besides insurance, Christine Thang, a third-year physiological science student and Legislative Affairs committee chair, said the bill would affect how physicians practice medicine and how they interact with patients.
Currently, private insurance companies control which doctors their patients can see, Thang said.
With SB 810, however, “people are able to choose their doctors and hospitals,” she said.
The committee had a number of outreach efforts, including two information sessions fall quarter, announcements in classes, e-mails to numerous student organizations and flyering.
The bill is designed to save money for the state, averaging an estimated $20 billion less than current health care spending in administrative costs during its first year, according to a press release from Leno’s office.
“The bill aims to streamline many of the bureaucratic processes that slow down medical services,” Lyons said.
Despite Leno’s confidence in the bill’s affordability, Andrew Kreitz, a fourth-year business economics student and chairman of Bruin Republicans, doubts the program would stay within budget.
“Almost all of these figures turn out to be vastly over-optimistic,” Kreitz said.
He added that most states that implemented universal health care are not doing well, including Massachusetts and Hawaii.
Kreitz opposes change in health care because of California’s current economic position.
“We just had a $26 billion deficit in the state of California, (and) we’re already above budget”, Kreitz said. “Health care costs money and the state doesn’t have enough money to finance it.”
Legislative Affairs is trying to get maximum medical and undergraduate student participation in California Health Professional Student Alliance Lobby Day 2010, held in Sacramento from Jan. 10 to 11, to lobby for the bill’s success.
Thang emphasized the importance of universal health care in California as the state would act “like a trial run for the nation, paving the way for other states, or even the whole nation, to adopt (universal health care).”