HOW MAJOR HEALTHCARE REFORM PLANS COMPARE
What ACTION can I take?
Choose a plan below:
The Schwarzenegger Plan |
|
Main
Elements |
How it's
paid for |
What we support |
Our
concerns |
1. Creates “Individual Mandate,” requiring
all Californians to have a health plan, even if you must buy one yourself (like car insurance)
2. Creates state pool to offer subsidized,
affordable coverage to adults earning up
to 250% of the federal poverty level, or about $50,000 for a family of four
3. Requires employers (“Employer
Mandate”) to spend at least 4% of their
payroll on healthcare for their workers or
pay into a state pool
4. Expands Medi-Cal and Healthy Families to cover more less adults
5. Reforms the insurance market to make it easier for people with pre-existing conditions
to get individual insurance coverage.
|
• Employers that don’t payenough for employee healthcare
pay into state pool
• More federal dollars by expanding eligibility for Medi-Cal and Healthy Families
• Redirect $2 billion from safety net hospitals and counties
• Since hospitals and doctors will get an estimated $10 to $15 billion from the plan, the Governor is proposing a provider tax, 4% for hospitals and 2% for physicians |
Commitment to healthcare coverage for all Californians – a major political step forward
Plan appears to be a serious effort to find solutions |
• Individual mandate shifts risk and responsibility to
working families and
doesn’t guarantee that coverage available for them to is affordable, or that they’ll get the care they need when they need it
• The 4% employer man date is too low – it might actually encourage some employers to drop coverage in favor of allowing their employees to purchase
their own coverage
through state pool
• Safety-net hospitals
could face even greater funding shortfalls, as
public funds are redirected to ensuring coverage
instead of paying
directly for care
Individual mandate shifts risks and responsibility
for having coverage onto working families without guaranteeing that coverage will be
affordable |
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|
The Perata Plan |
|
Main
Elements |
How it's
paid for |
What we support |
Our
concerns |
1. Requires employers to pay for coverage
or pay into the state pool;
2. Expands Medi-Cal and Healthy Families
to cover more children and working parents;
3. Requires all working Californians and
their families to have coverage (“individual
mandate”) and imposes tax penalties
on people without coverage
4. Reforms the insurance market
|
• Employer contributions
• Worker contributions
• Bring in more federal funds by expanding Medi-Cal and Healthy
Families programs |
Provides new coverage options for all working Californians |
Individual mandate shifts risks and responsibility for having coverage onto
working families without
guaranteeing that
coverage will be
affordable |
| |
|
The Kuehl Plan: SB840 |
|
Main
Elements |
How it's
paid for |
What we support |
Our
concerns |
1. Single-payer universal healthcare most closely fits our goal of ensuring every
Californian has access to affordable, quality
healthcare when they need it |
• Imposes healthcare coverage tax on employers and individuals to fund single-payer system
• Employer contributions
• Worker contributions
• Savings from reducing health plans’ administrative costs |
Caregivers have been some of the strongest supporters of universal,
single-payer healthcare
because we believe it does the best job of controlling costs and ensuring all Californians have access to care |
Governor has repeatedly
refused to support this legislation and it’s unlikely he’ll
change his mind |
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|
The Nunez Plan |
|
Main
Elements |
How it's
paid for |
What we support |
Our
concerns |
1. Creates state purchasing pool to offer coverage for working Californians
2. Requires employers to pay for coverage or pay into the state pool
3. Expands Medi-Cal and Healthy Families
to cover more children and childless adults
4. Requires all workers offered coverage at work to accept that coverage for them and their dependents, provided that the worker’s share of the cost is limited.
5. Reforms the insurance market. |
• Bring in more federal funds by expanding Medi-Cal and Healthy
Families programs
• Imposes surcharge on health insurance premiums to help subsidize state pool |
Provides new coverage
options for all working
Californians
Does not require all
Californians to have health coverage (no unaffordable
“individual mandate”) |
A number of details
about this plan remain vague and require further
clarification |
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