| Spring 1998 |
Health Care for All-California (HCA)
helps draft Senate Bill 2123, which calls for a universal
single payer health care system.The authors are Senators
Barbara Lee (Oakland) and Diane Watson (Los Angeles). HCA
leads a campaign for organizational
endorsements. SB 2123, as revised and passed by the Senate Health and Human Services
Committee, calls for a comparison of different models of financing universal
health care, including single payer. |
| Summer 1998 |
HCA helps draft Senate Concurrent
Resolution 100, which calls for a study to compare different
models of financing universal health coverage. Each model
must provide the same high quality benefits, which are
defined in the bill. The content of SCR 100 is authorized
by Senate President, John Burton, and supported by leaders
of the Assembly and the Senate. |
| Spring 1999 |
HCA helps draft SB 480, which requires:
1) a process for stakeholders to address the issues facing
the state in providing universal health coverage; 2) a
report from the California Health and Human Services Agency
(CHHS) to the legislature on the results of the process
and the universal health coverage study; and 3) enactment
of universal health coverage for all California residents by a "date certain," July
1, 2003. The author is State Senator Hilda Solis (Los Angeles).
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| Summer 1999 |
HCA initiates a statewide organizational
endorsement campaign to pass SB 480. Hundreds of organizational
endorsements are sent to the legislature. With the date
certain provision removed, the bill passes the Senate and
the Assembly. The endorsement campaign continues. Newspaper
editorials and op-eds call for Governor Gray Davis to sign
SB 480, which he does. |
| Winter 2000 |
By the authority of leaders of the
Assembly and the Senate, a panel of national health care
experts, the Universal Health Care Technical Advisory Committee
(UHCTAC), meets to review the status of the study, evaluate
different proposals for conducting the study, and issue
a report of recommendations. The UHCTAC report draws on
HCA's own recommendations, which include: the government should be the client
for the study; advocates of a particular model of universal
health coverage should devise that model; methods and assumptions
used for the study should be transparent; there should
be competitive bidding by modelers; and the quality criteria
defined in SCR 100 should be applied to each model. |
| Spring 2000 |
HCA initiates a statewide organizational
endorsement campaign to augment the budget so that CHHS
can implement SB 480. The legislature approves $600,000.
Governor Davis authorizes $200,000. |
| Summer 2000 |
HCA initiates a statewide organizational
endorsement campaign to have Governor Davis apply for a
federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA) to conduct a comparative analysis of different models
of universal health coverage. The funds would enable implementation
of SB 480. HRSA’s
budget can only fund 11 of the 20 proposals HRSA approves. California is among
the nine states not awarded a grant. |
| Fall 2000 |
HCA initiates a statewide organizational
endorsement campaign to augment the federal budget. With
support for the campaign from U.S. Representative Nancy
Pelosi (San Francisco), Congress increases HRSA's budget
by $15 million. California's “Health Care Options
Project” (HCOP) receives $1.2 million. |
| Spring 2001 |
HCA initiates a statewide organizational
endorsement campaign to guarantee full participation by
representatives of the Legislature and health care stakeholders
in the SB480/HCOP process, and to have CHHS utilize the
recommendations of the UHCTAC report. The Senate and Assembly
budget subcommittees for health hold hearings about implementation
of SB480/HCOP and support HCA's goals. |
| Summer 2001 |
CHHS creates the Advisory Group for
the SB480/HCOP process. There are representatives of state
and local governments and a broad range of health care
stakeholders. CHHS approves nine proposals for the study.
There are three universal single payer proposals -- including
HCA’s own plan, Cal Care -- and six proposals that
increase coverage through public program expansions, employer and/or individual
tax credits, subsidies and/or mandates, or combination
approaches. HCA initiates a campaign to have CHHS contract
for an analysis of how well each proposal satisfies health
care quality measurements, in
addition to how much each proposal expands health coverage and how much the expansion
costs. |
| Fall 2001 |
CHHS contracts with The Lewin Group to analyze and compare
the cost and coverage impacts of the nine proposals, using
a micro-simulation model. CHHS also contracts with AZA Consulting
to analyze the quality and access impacts of the proposals. |
| Winter 2002 |
CHHS and the California State Library/California
Research Bureau sponsor five public symposia, which are
held in Fresno, Oakland, Manhattan Beach and Sacramento
(twice). The authors describe their proposals, and the
Lewin Group and AZA Consulting report their findings. The
authors use public input to revise their proposals. |
| Spring 2002 |
The Lewin Group and AZA Consulting
submit their final documents to CHHS. At the end of his
presentation at the last symposium at the capitol, John
Shiels of The Lewin Group says, “One of
the major claims of the single payer advocates for a long time has been that
we could cover more people, for more services, for less
money. Our study is showing that, for these very carefully
designed plans, that's true. To the best of our ability
to estimate it, that's true.” |
| Fall 2002 |
HCA convenes monthly meetings in Sacramento
with a wide range of organizations to lay the basis for
a grassroots movement to support a single payer bill in
the 2003 legislative session. Several Assembly Members
and Senators compete to be selected by the organizations
as the author of the bill. Sen. Sheila Kuehl (Santa Monica)
is chosen. The legislation is developed from recommendations from the public,
health care stakeholders and features from the three HCOP
single payer proposals |
| Winter 2003 |
Sen. Kuehl introduces SB 921, The
Health Care for All Californians Act. The Health Care for
All Californians Campaign is established, composed of a
growing number of organizations that endorse the bill.
Regional meetings are held to involve local organizations
in the campaign. |
| Spring 2003 |
A large lobbying campaign helps to
get passed SB 921 by the Senate, but the bill is reduced
to “intent” language. |
| Spring 2004 |
The Assembly Health Committee passes
SB 921. The bill goes no further. It has 26 co-authors
(6 Senators and 20 Assembly Members) and more than 500
statewide or local organizations are endorsers. HCA raises
$90,000 to hire The Lewin Group to analyze the financial
impact of SB 921 (April 2004 version).The
Assembly Health Committee passes SB 921. The bill goes no further. It has 26
co-authors (6 Senators and 20 Assembly Members) and more than 500 statewide or
local organizations are endorsers. HCA raises $90,000 to
hire The Lewin Group to analyze the financial impact of
SB 921 (April 2004 version). |
| Winter 2005 |
Sen. Kuehl releases The Lewin Group report. The findings
show the model on which SB 921 was based can cover every
Californian with a comprehensive health plan that reduces
costs and controls health cost inflation. If the model were
implemented in 2006, the cumulative savings between what
would be spent without the plan and what would be spent under
it would be $8 billion in the first year and $343.6 billion
from 2006-2015. |
| Spring 2005 |
Sen. Kuehl introduces SB 840, the
California Health Insurance Reliability Act, which substantially
amends SB 921. Advocates garner hundreds of endorsements
from organizations, thousands of letters of support from
individuals, and place op-eds in many newspapers. The Senate
passes SB 840. |
| Summer 2006 |
A huge lobbying campaign by advocacy
organizations and unions helps get SB 840 passed by the
Assembly. Due to amendments in the Assembly version, SB
840 is returned to and passed by the Senate for concurrence.
It has 43 co-authors (13 Senators and 30 Assembly Members).
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s op-ed in
the San Diego Union-Tribune explains why he will veto SB 840. It generates a
lot of press coverage, as well as criticism by advocates
of SB 840. On August 12, the “365-City Campaign” is
launched in Morro Bay. Each following day there’s
an event in support of SB 840 in a different city. It’s
a project of OneCareNow, which is initiated by HCA, in
partnership with other organizations, who soon form the
State Strategy Group.(Member organizations of the State
Strategy Group are listed at the bottom of the page.) |
| Spring 2007 |
Sen. Kuehl reintroduces SB 840, renamed
the California Universal Healthcare Act. At a special Assembly
Health Committee educational hearing, Sen. Kuehl shows
the HCA video, “The Healthcare Solution:
California OneCare,” which is posted on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAWZrfYXs-c).
SB 840 quickly has 43 co-authors (15 Senators and 28 Assembly Members). Sen.
Kuehl also introduces SB 1014, which specifies the tax rates to help finance
SB 840. Hearings on SB 840 are packed with supporters. The California Nurses
Association hosts two large rallies at the capitol. The second features Michael
Moore, who testifies at an educational hearing chaired by Sen. Kuehl. Moore also
hosts two sneak previews of SiCKO, one for advocates and one for legislators
and staff. The Senate passes SB 840. The Assembly Health Committee also passes
SB 840. Gov. Schwarzenegger vows to veto SB 840, so the bill is not moved to
the Assembly floor for passage to the governor's desk. This keeps SB 840 alive
for organizing in 2008, the last year of a two-year legislative session. |
| Summer 2007 |
Throughout California where SiCKO
is shown at movie theaters, flyers explaining SB 840 are
distributed. Each flyer has a postcard with prepaid postage.
Over 30,000 postcards in support of SB 840 are collected
in a few weeks. On August 11, the 365-City Campaign ends
with a rally of 3,000 in front of Los Angeles City Hall.
Speakers include Sen. Kuehl, Lily Tomlin, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, U.S. Congressman
Dennis Kucinich, Secxretary-Treasurer Emeritus of the United
Farm Workers Dolores Huerta, Executive Treasurer of the
L.A. County Federation of Labor Maria Elena Durazo, and
spokespersons from the State Strategy Group. (Rally video
is posted on YouTube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=5VuKMkOZxHI.)The
2007-2008 “365
Campaign” is
launched. A Field Poll (Aug. 22) shows that 36% of California
voters favor replacing the current employer-based system
with one operated by the state -- a jump of 12% since December.
The poll shows single payer has the most support of all
health care proposals. |
Member Organizations of the State Strategy Group:
California Alliance of Retired Americans;
California Church Impact; California Faculty Association;
California Federation of Teachers; California Gray Panthers;
California Nurses Association; California Physicians
Alliance; California School Employees Association; California
Teachers Assopciation; Consumer Federation of California;
Dolores Huerta Foundation; Health Care for All—California;
League of Women Voters—California; Wellstone Democratic
Renewal Club.
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