LOS ANGELES – Accompanied by some of the state’s most influential labor, business, and health care leaders, Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today lauded yesterday’s historic Assembly vote to expand health care coverage to millions of Californians, including all children.

“We have come to an agreement on fundamental health care reform unlike anything the state of California has ever seen and unlike anything this country has ever achieved in its history,” Speaker Núñez said during the visit to the California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Speaker Núñez is the principal author of Assembly Bill 1X1, the Democratic comprehensive health care bill co-authored by Senate President pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland). AB 1X1 passed the California Assembly yesterday on a party line 46-31 vote. It is the culmination of nearly a year of negotiations between legislative leaders, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and labor, business, health care, and consumer groups. Dozens of organizations have embraced the bill, including the Service Employees International Union, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AARP, California Hospital Association, Safeway, March of Dimes, Children Now, Mental Health Association of California, American Nurses Association of California, California Association of Nurse Practitioners, Kaiser Permanente, CIGNA, Blue Shield, and Small Business California.

AB 1X1 incorporates ideas from a number of stakeholders. It relies on a system of shared responsibility between employers, health care providers, consumers, and government agencies. It requires an individual mandate for most Californians, but provides subsidies for Californians earning up to 400% of the federal poverty line. The bill includes significant cost-containment and transparency language, including a requirement that insurance companies spend no more than 15 cents of every dollar on administrative costs. Those with pre-existing conditions are guaranteed coverage under the plan, and all children will be covered.

It is financed through a combination of fees and taxes to be approved by the voters in a November 2008 ballot initiative that will include a tobacco tax, employer fee assessed along a sliding scale based on annual payroll, a hospital fee, and a county share of cost.

Here are links to audio of Speaker Fabian Núñez:

Speaker Fabian Núñez says the passage of the Democratic health care reform package is a great achievement.

Speaker Fabian Núñez says the health care reform plan approved by the Assembly will help all Californians.

Speaker Fabian Núñez full statement at the LA event. (approximately 6 minutes)