From Brad at theatrebayarea.org Thu Jan 3 16:23:48 2008 From: Brad at theatrebayarea.org (Brad Erickson) Date: Thu Jan 3 16:24:01 2008 Subject: Healthcare Moving Forward -- With Your Support! Message-ID: <8CDB7716FBA6AD4E9280E623959545881C2FB4@tba-sbs.fileserver.theatrebayarea.com> Dear Arts Forum Supporters Happy New Year! Some positive news to start off 2008! The word from Sacramento on healthcare is good. The Governor and the Assembly have approved legislation to greatly expand access to healthcare. The ball now sits in the court of the state Senate, where it will be reviewed in committee on January 16. You can find much more detailed information on the legislation below, in messages from Artists United for Healthcare and Its Our Healthcare. ACT NOW: By contacting Senators Yee, Migden and Perata and urging them to vote yes on AB X1-1. Leland Yee senator.yee@sen.ca.gov Carole Migden senator.migden@sen.ca.gov Don Perata senator.perata@sen.ca.gov Deborah Cullinan Brad Erickson Executive Director Executive Director Intersection for the Arts Theatre Bay Area 415-626-2787 415-430-1140 x11 Artists United for Healthcare congratulates the California Assembly and Governor Schwarzenegger for hammering out a plan for health care reform that will expand health coverage to almost 4 million uninsured Californians. With the passage of AB X1 1 on December 17th, we have clearly made a giant step toward the goal of providing quality, affordable health care to every person in the state. The bill as it is written contains provisions that directly address the needs of people working in the arts and entertainment who do not have access to employer-based insurance. * Health insurance will be guaranteed issue. Insurers will be required to offer coverage, regardless of so-called 'pre-existing conditions,' and the practice of basing rates on health conditions will be limited. * For those whose adjusted gross income (AGI) is between 250% and 400% of the federal poverty level (for an individual this means between $25,525 and $40,840) there will be access to the state purchasing pool, and a state income tax credit for premiums that exceed 5.5% of AGI. * A statement of intent to pass future legislation that will provide a health care tax credit to Californians between the ages of 50 and 64. The guarantee of the right to purchase health insurance, access to the state purchasing pool, use of adjusted gross income, and the recognition of age as an unfair determinant of cost, signaled by the intent to give early retirees a tax break no matter what their income, have been at the center of our advocacy work. The Senate will consider the bill in January. All indications are that they will pass it, the Governor will sign it, and voters will be asked to approve its financing in the 2008 election. Our next task is to make certain that the financing of this historic, innovative, and compassionate bill succeeds. We also need to stay vigilant, making sure that the affordable health insurance plans being offered are comprehensive, without high deductibles and exorbitant co-pays. Otherwise, this victory will seem like a replay of previous attempts to reform health care. Dear IOH coalition members, Happy New Year! You have probably heard much news about the health care legislation over the last two weeks. Here is the quick summary: >From Anthony Wright, Health Access blog: **On December 16, the assembly voted to pass ABx11 a summary of the bill can be found on the Health Access Website - http://www.healthaccess.org/blogger.html and look for the Dec. 17th entry. **The Senate is scheduled to vote on the Bill on January 16. **The ballot initiative was filed by Speaker Fabian Nunez and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on December 28th. The initiative language contains all of the legislation's necessary funding. (Read more below.) **Coalition members who are currently comfortable supporting the bill will begin calling Senators tomorrow. We will send a list with phone numbers and a script in a follow-up e-mail and those who are comfortable taking a position can call their senators. First take at the ballot measure... Friday, December 28, 2007 It's official and filed. The initiative would ask voters to approve a majority of the $14 billion a year to get a better health system. It includes some of the financing of AB x1 1, including the employer contribution, the hospital fee, the county share-of-cost, and the tobacco tax, now set at $1.75. It's submitted by Governor Schwarzenegger and Speaker Nunez themselves. (Interesting side note, as someone who's submitted ballot measures in the past: This means they are the ones who have to sign all paperwork henceforth, regarding petitions, ballot arguments, etc.) We'll put out a broader analysis soon, but some things of note: * The hospital fee language is similar to what has been in print, and would be used to bring in federal matching funds that would go back to hospitals through increased Medi-Cal rates and through coverage expansions. * The state coverage expansions will provide savings for counties, who now provide some care to medically indigent adults, and some of those savings will be re-invested into the coverage expansion. * Children's groups were able to get one-time bridge funding, so that children could stay on county children's programs until the statewide universal children's coverage program was up and running. * The tobacco tax backfills a range of Prop 10 and Prop 99 programs to help ensure they are not impacted by lowered consumption due to the higher tax, with the exception of money that went to children's coverage. * The employer contribution section is similar to what has been described, where the employer contribution is scaled up to 6.5% of payroll. It seems to pick up on the suggestion of Judge White suggestion in his San Francisco ruling, placing the assessment on all employers, but then offering a "credit" for those they contribute to health care in other ways. * It is written with the explicit "expectation" that the act is "essentially the same" as the way it was passed in the Assembly. The Senate will likely be able to make clarifications and refinements, but if there are major structural changes, then the ballot measure will probably need to be refiled. posted by Anthony Wright | 5:57 PM >From John Myers, Sacramento Bureau Chief for KQED's "The California Report," heard weekdays and weekends on 24 public radio stations, including 88.5 FM in San Francisco and 89.3 FM in Sacramento. Friday, December 28, 2007 Health Care Financing Initiative Filed Late word this afternoon that the initiative has been filed for funding the health care reform plan now awaiting state Senate approval, with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez as its official authors. The initiative asks voters to approve a financing plan to pay for the $14 billion a year reform proposal, and includes contributions from employers, employees, and hospitals and an increase in tobacco taxes. Probably the most newsy tidbit in the initiative is the size of the new tobacco tax. It tacks a new $1.75 per pack tax on cigarettes, a figure that appears to be the compromise between Democrats (who wanted a $2 hike) and the governor (who preferred $1.50). "This is the most effective way to fund the reform we need to fix California's broken health care system," said Nunez in an e-mailed statement. Much of the other components are similar to what's been reported. Businesses will be required to spend money on health care for their employees at a rate that's tied to their total annual payroll. Those employer fees begin at 1% of annual payroll and go up to 6.5%. The initiative also seeks to inject some protections against rumors that the health care plan could be in violation of a federal law that governs what health care mandates can legally be placed on employers. Whether that passes muster may ultimately be decided by the courts. The 39-page initiative was received today by the Attorney General's office, where it now will be vetted for an official title and summary. The timing is important, as the clock is ticking on the initiative's chances to qualify in time for next November's ballot. An aide to Nunez says that the political committee to raise money and gather signatures will be announced next week. Frances Rosario Executive Assistant It's OUR Healthcare! The Campaign for Quality, Affordable Healthcare for Every Californian 414 - 13th Street, Suite 450 Oakland, CA 94612 p. (510) 873-8787, x101 f. (510) 873-8789 frosario@itsOURhealthcare.org www.ItsOURhealthcare.org -- Deborah Cullinan Executive Director Intersection for the Arts 446 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94103 415.626.2787 x 105 voice 415.626.1636 fax http://www.theintersection.org/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://gdc.groupd.com/pipermail/artsforum-sf/attachments/20080103/ded96c20/attachment-0001.html