| 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 State 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). |
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 legislature.
The endorsement campaign continues. Newspaper editorials
and op-eds are published calling on Governor 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; the 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 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.
Davis authorizes $200,000. |
Summer 2000 |
HCA initiates a statewide organizational
endorsement campaign to have the governor 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. Although HRSA approves applications from 20 states,
its budget can only fund 11 projects. California is among
the nine states not awarded a grant. |
Fall 2000 |
HCA initiates a statewide organizational
endorsement campaign to augment the federal budget so that
HRSA can award grants to California and the other eight
states. 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 models 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 authors of proposals, the Lewin Group
and AZA Consulting submit their final documents to CHHS,
which are posted on the HCOP website, www.healthcareoptions.ca.gov
(under “Document Library”). In the conclusion
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
State Senators compete for the organizations’ endorsement
to be the author of the bill. Sen. Sheila Kuehl (Santa Monica)
is chosen. The legislation is developed on the basis of
recommendations from the public, health care stakeholders
and features from the three HCOP single payer proposals.
|
Winter 2003 |
SB 921, The Health Care for All Californians
Act, is introduced and amended. The Health Care for All
Californians Campaign is established, composed of a growing
number of organizations that endorse the bill. A steering
committee is formed from members of diverse organizations
that support the bill. Regional meetings are held to involve
local organizations in the campaign. |
Spring 2003 |
A huge lobbying campaign advances SB 921
to the Senate floor. The Senate passes the bill, but only
with “intent” language. It is sent to the Assembly.
|
| Spring 2004 |
In the Assembly, SB 921 is heard by the Health
Committee. Predictions that the bill will be voted down by
a combination of moderate Democrats and Republicans are proved
wrong. A massive lobbying campaign results in the bill passing,
12-5, on a party-line vote. SB 921 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 and
her new legislation will be 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 new legislation, SB 840,
the California Health Insurance Reliability Act, which substantially
amends SB 921. (CHIRA does not contain finance language. A
second bill, which will be introduced in 2006, will explain
the financing of SB 840.) Advocates garner hundreds of endorsements
from organizations, co-authorships from legislators, thousands
of letters of support from individuals, and place op-eds in
many newspapers. The Senate passes SB 840. |
| Summer 2005 |
The Assembly Health Committee passes SB 840.
It has 33 co-authors (13 Senators and 20 Assembly Members.) |
