SACRAMENTO – Responding to California’s growing health care crisis, the California Assembly today passed Speaker Fabian Núñez’s (D-Los Angeles) Assembly Bill 8 by a vote of 47-32.

“Covering the uninsured isn’t just the right thing to do for the uninsured – it’s the right thing to do for all of us,” Speaker Núñez said on the Assembly floor. “Assembly Bill 8 is based on the principle of shared responsibility between government, individuals and employers.”

AB 8 contains:

• Major reforms of the insurance industry;
• Expansion of public health care programs;
• Effective measures to contain costs;
• Provisions to improve and reward quality;
• Tools to strengthen the private health care market. 

“The uninsured live sicker and die sooner,” Assembly Majority Leader Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said. “Health insurance is key to changing their lives for the better and making sure they stay healthy and productive members of our community.”

Under AB 8, employers who already provide coverage will encounter little or no change, and families can maintain their relationships with their doctors.

“By making a huge dent in the number of uninsured -- 70% -- and by focusing on prevention and wellness, AB 8 will contribute to a healthier state as California’s population ages,” Assemblymember Patty Berg (D-Eureka), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care, said.

AB 8 provides frameworks to ensure that nearly 70% of those currently uninsured – 3.4 million out of 4.9 million without insurance -- will be covered, including all children. It also contains a significant expansion of the state’s Healthy Families and Medi-Cal programs to working parents.

“Right now people are charged higher premiums because of medical history,” Assemblymember Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) said. “In the industry that’s known as cherry picking or lemon dropping, but its impact on the health care system isn’t as cute or innocuous as those nicknames suggest.”

AB 8 requires the state’s Major Risk Medical Insurance Program (MRMIB) to develop a list of serious health conditions or diagnoses that make an applicant automatically eligible for that program. AB 8 prohibits health plans and insurers from excluding people from individual coverage except those with conditions on the MRMIB list.

“Does anyone believe that the government, employers, and employees have an endless capacity to absorb health care costs that grow 2 ½ times the rate of inflation?” Speaker Núñez asked.

AB 8 also requires the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to adopt regulations that would require at least 85% of revenue a plan or insurer receives be spent on care – what’s known as a “medical loss ratio.”

“I think that in a nation as wealthy as ours, it’s a tragedy we don’t have a national health insurance system, but I also recognize that the Governor is opposed to Senator Sheila Kuehl’s single payer bill.” Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) said. “Last year, he vetoed Senator Kuehl’s legislation, and has indicated he will do so again. So I believe this bill represents the best chance we have to do something about the millions of people who don’t have health insurance in this state.”

While most of the co-authors of Assembly Bill 8 support single-payer health care, including Speaker Núñez, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has indicated that he would veto a universal health care bill. AB 8 works within the system, prioritizing prevention, cost containment, and universal coverage for the most vulnerable populations.

AB 8 is backed by a diverse group of organizations, including 100% Campaign, California Optometric Association, California Association of Health Underwriters, and California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems. Others, including California Federation of Teachers, California Medical Association, Service Employees International Union, and Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program have expressed support with amendments.