CTA Co-Sponsor's Single-Payee Health Bill

CTA is putting its muscle behind efforts to pass a piece of legislation that
will provide fiscally sound, affordable health insurance coverage to all
Californians. The California Health Insurance Reliability Act (CHIRA),
proposed by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), would put everyone
into a "super pool," and institute a single-payer system based on the
Canadian model.

The passage of universal health care would benefit students like Jessica
Martinez at Rosemead High in El Monte.


As Kuehl envisions it, Senate Bill 840 would eliminate waste and control
health care costs by consolidating the administrative duties currently
relegated to insurance companies under one roof — the California Health
Trust — and making the state the "single payer" for medical care bills as
well as the sole purchaser of prescription drugs and medical equipment.

Even though the bills would be paid by a public entity, health care delivery
would remain in the private sector. Consumers would retain the freedom to
choose their care providers. Patients and their doctors - not administrators
- would make medical decisions. Everyone would have comprehensive
benefits, including prescription drug coverage and mental health care.
Physicians and medical facilities would receive fair reimbursement for all
covered services they provide, and hospitals would be able to afford safe
staffing levels for registered nurses.

Under CHIRA, no California resident would ever lose his or her health
insurance because insurance premiums became unaffordable, because he
or she changed or lost a job, or because he or she had a pre-existing
medical condition. The nearly 6 million uninsured residents would be
covered.

The plan calls for no new spending. It would rely on federal, state and
county monies already being spent on health care, along with modest
insurance premiums: A 3.8 percent payroll tax would be levied on workers,
replacing all existing insurance premiums, deductibles and copays. An 8.2
percent payroll tax would be levied on employers, replacing all current
health care benefits paid for workers, dependents and retirees.

With no deductibles or out-of-pocket costs, California families could save
from $300 to $3,000 per year and businesses from $300 to $2,000 per
employee. Employers now offering health care benefits would save an
estimated 16 percent.

Lois Shive

Currently, it's estimated that half of every dollar spent on healthcare is
squandered on clinical and administrative waste, insurance company
profits and overpriced pharmaceuticals. Reduced administrative costs
could save California $20 billion in the first year alone. Another $5.2 billion
could be saved by enabling the state to use its full purchasing power to
negotiate systemwide bulk purchases of prescription drugs and durable
medical equipment. More savings could come from coordinating capital
expenditures.

Since all payments would be made by the trust, data from providers would
be funneled to one place for maximum efficiency and fraud prevention.

CHIRA would establish a nonpartisan commissioner of health to oversee
how the money is spent, along with a health policy board, a network of
consumer advocates, and community-based "Partnerships for Health" to
identify and help solve local service problems.

CHIRA can avoid the long waiting lists for medical services that Canadians
put up with, according to Kuehl. "Canada spends about a third as much as
we do per capita on healthcare and uses waiting lists to manage limited
resources. California spends more than enough to avoid waiting lists,
although we will have to plan our resource use carefully."

This is Kuehl's second attempt to legislate universal health care, and she's
vowed to keep trying every year until it passes. Senate Bill 840 passed the
Senate Health Committee in April with all the Democrats on the committee
voting in favor and all of the Republicans opposed. On May 31, it passed the
state Senate on a vote of 24 to 14. It's now being considered in the state
Assembly.

CTA's State Council of Education has voted to support the bill.

"The good news is that SB 840 is a two year bill, so we have time the rest of
this year to build up momentum," says Council representative Mark
Rendon, a member of the Oakland Education Association and chair of the
Green Party Caucus.

"This bill will benefit everybody," he maintains. "It will benefit all of our
students who are uninsured and underinsured. It will mean that our
students will do better in school, attend school more often and be able to
get glasses and hearing aides if needed."

"The environment we're in has almost reached a boiling point,"says Lois
Shive, a member of CTA's Health Benefits Task Force. "It's time to turn the
heat down on us and turn it up on the providers to make sure everyone is
covered. And we need to include the entire state because trusts can't do it
alone anymore."

The Central Valley Trust, she says, recently raised rates for members by 12
percent and retirees by 24 percent.

"If we can unite under one umbrella, real change can be accomplished,"
adds Shive. "The larger the group, the more we have the ability to drive
down health care costs."

If it's going to happen, it needs to happen soon. By 2010, nearly half of
California's working adults will be working for employers who will not fund
health insurance, according to a UC Berkeley study.

The United States is the only industrialized country that does not provide
universal health care, says Chris Szczepaniak, who visited Italy and was
surprised by the quality of health care provided the residents there.

"They have better health care than we do,"says Szczepaniak, a member of
the El Monte Union Educators Association. "Members of the European
Union have universal healthcare. It's not a perfect system, but no one goes
without health care."

"To me, medical care is a necessity, not a luxury," he adds.
CTA Co-Sponsor's Single-Payee Health Bill