Healthcare mandates are moving in the legislature. These include bills that impose burdensome mandates on employers or unnecessarily restrict operations in the workplace that make products and services more expensive. This makes employers less competitive and takes resources away from consumers, killing jobs. AB 8 (Nunez) Health Care Coverage Would require most businesses to offer health coverage and employees to take it. Creates a state cooperative to purchase health insurance. Expands Medi-Cal/Healthy Families. Would insure all children under 300% FPL and eventually childless adults. Would reform the individual insurance market to restrict pre-existing coverage exclusions and create uniform benefits packages, allowing for easier cost comparison and shopping. Chamber Position: OPPOSE
AB53 (Dymally) Universal Health Care Coverage
Declares that the Legislature should pass a bill that provides universal health care coverage to all Californians, regardless of age, income, employment, or health status.
Chamber Position: OPPOSE
AB 84 (Nakanishi) Health Savings Accounts
Allows individual tax filers to receive state tax credits for having a Health Savings Account, which must be paired with a high-deductible health plan. Health Access opposed a similar bill last year.
Chamber Position: SUPPORT
AB 85 (Nakanishi) Business Tax Credits for Health Savings Accounts
Allows businesses to receive state tax credits for contributing to employees’ Health Savings Accounts. Health Access opposed a similar bill last year.
Chamber Position: SUPPORT
AB 343 (Solorio) Health care: employer coverage: disclosure
this bill would require the department and the board, on or before March 15 of each year, to collaborate to transmit to the Legislature a report identifying all employers who employ 25 or more persons who are beneficiaries or who support beneficiaries of these programs, as specified. The bill would also require the department and the board to make the report available to the public as provided in the bill.
Chamber Position: OPPOSE
SB 48 (Perata) Health Insurance Connector
Would contain an employer and individual mandate on workers to provide and have health coverage. Would also create a “health insurance connector,’’ which would allow individuals and others to buy insurance through the state. Insurers who choose to participate would be required to provide guaranteed issue and community rating. Would also expand Healthy Families to 58,000 children under 300% FPL. Would also attempt to cover parents up to 300% FPL under Medi-Cal.
Chamber Position:OPPOSE
SB 51 (Ducheny) SD Heath Care Connection Demonstration Project
This bill seeks to authorize a pilot program in San Diego County to provide project operations aimed at assisting employers with providing full time employees with health care benefits.
Chamber Position:OPPOSE
SB 236 (Runner) Cal Care Program
Express the Legislature’s intent to enact the Cal CARE program to improve access to health care services for the residents of this state, as specified.
Chamber Position:
SB 349 (Perata) Health Care Coverage
Senator Perata’s spot bill for a universal access plan
Chamber Position:OPPOSE