Friday, July 23, 2004

HEALTH ACCESS UPDATE
Friday, July 23rd, 2004


* BUDGET: Still in Limbo; Medi-Cal Redesign Announcements Soon
* PROPOSITIONS: Ballot Arguments Now Posted
* BLUE CROSS MERGER: Different Decisions From California Regulators


BUDGET STILL IN LIMBO: As of this writing, the State of California has been operating for over three weeks without a budget, and there does not seem to be major progress in legislators and the Governor coming to an agreement. Earlier this week, the State Senate voted on a proposed budget, which got a majority of Senators, all Democrats, but did not get the Republican votes needed for 2/3 passage.

Unlike in previous years, the cause of the disagreement does not seem to be health care funding or issues. However, the later that this budget gets delayed, the possibility increases that issues might get reopened, such as the health care cuts that have been rejected. Also, the lateness of a budget agreement will soon start to impact providers of health and human services that contract with the state.

 
MEDI-CAL REDESIGN: It is unclear how the late budget and current negotiations would impact the Administration's proposal for "Medi-Cal redesign," which is scheduled to be unveiled on August 2nd. Little information has been shared on the exact contents of the proposal, although the broad concepts have stayed the same: changes in eligibility, cost-sharing, benefits, managed care, and hospital financing, resulting in Medi-Cal recipients paying more for less care.

This coming WEDNESDAY, JULY 28th,  health advocates in Sacramento will have the opportunity to learn more about the concepts behind Medi-Cal redesign, in two roundtable discussions: 

• "Medicaid HIFA Waivers: Lessons for California." 10:00am-11:30am. State Capitol, Room 112. Sponsored by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the UC Berkeley Center for Health and Public Policy Studies. Please RSVP to chpps@uclink.berkeley.edu, or call (510)643-1675 with questions. 
• "A Roundtable Discussion on the Governor's Proposal to Restructure the Medi-Cal Program." 3:00-4:30pm, 1121 L St, Suite 904. The event is sponsored by the California Budget Project and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The two groups have just released a detailed analysis, available at the CBP website at http://www.cbp.org. Please RSVP to cbp@cbp.org, or call (916)444-0500. 
  

PROPOSITIONS: The ballot arguments for the fourteen measures slated to be voted on in November 2004 are now posted online at the Secretary of State's webpage, at: http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections_bpd_1104.htm 

Several of the proposition relate to health care, and others have significant implications for health into the future. This includes the much-discussed Proposition 72, the referendum on the law (SB 2) that protects and expands health coverage for workers and their families. New information is available at http://www.yesonprop72.com.

 
BLUE CROSS MERGER: Earlier today, California insurance regulators ruled in different ways on the hotly contested merger of Anthem and Wellpoint, the parent company of Blue Cross of California.

The California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC), headed by Director Cindy Ehnes, approved the merger, with a variety of conditions and "undertakings." These conditions included efforts for Blue Cross to improve its quality of care ratings, maintain reserve levels, report annually on the benefits of the merger, continue to participate in public insurance programs, direct investments to improve access to care in rural and underserved communities, and  spend $15 million on Healthy Families enrollment. More information is available at the DMHC's website: http://www.dmhc.ca.gov/
 
In contrast, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi rejected the merger. He found that the "commitments they were willing to make do no alleviate the fundamental problems with the deal." Due to the cost of the merger, the Commissioner found that "because the merger provides an increased need to upstream profits to the parent [company], it is prejudicial, unfair, and unreasonable to policyholders." He cited the "excessive compensation" to executives, as well as an "anti-competitive" impact nationally, that will ultimately impact the California market. His letter in opposition is on his website, at: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/docs/Anthem_letter.pdf

Labels: Updates

posted by Anthony Wright | Permalink | 8:50 AM


 

Wednesday, July 07, 2004

HEALTH ACCESS UPDATE
July 7th, 2004

* Budget Talks Stalled Over Local Government Agreement
* Northern California Grocery Workers Negotiate Over Health Benefits


BUDGET TALKS STALLED SO FAR

Last week, the new fiscal year for the State of California started, once again, without a state budget in place. As of this writing, Governor Schwarzenegger and key legislators still indicate that a budget agreement is near, and that passage and signing of a budget could be done within the next week, but nothing is certain.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ISSUE: The biggest issue that still remains unresolved regards the funding of local governments. The California Budget Project has a full budget brief on the issues regarding the local government agreement, available at: http://www.cbp.org/2004/0406vexingquestions.pdf

While the disagreements are not directly over health issues, the impasse raises concerns for health advocates in two ways:

* PROCESS: The longer an agreement is not made, there is greater potential for legislators or others to bring back issues that are "off the table," such as the proposed cuts to health care that have been withdrawn or rejected recently. And if there is an extended period of time without a budget as in previous years, then health providers may again face the prospect of late payments and reimbursements. While neither prospect is likely now, it becomes more likely with each passing day.

* SUBSTANCE: The substance of the local government agreement has implications for health and human services. As more of the budget is guaranteed for the funding of designated areas, such as local government activities, there are consequences for the rest of the state budget. Protecting local government funding means that during budget crises, there will be more pressure to cut health care and other "unprotected" human services, such as Medi-Cal and Healthy Families.

MEDICAL REDESIGN UPCOMING: Health Access will continue to monitor the budget talks and report if there is any movement. Regardless of the outcome of this year's budget, health advocates are also gearing up to discuss the Governor Schwarzenegger's "Medi-Cal Redesign" proposal, which is scheduled to be released in less than a month, on August 2nd.


NORTHERN CALIFORNIA GROCERY WORKERS BEGIN NEGOTIATIONS ON HEALTH BENEFITS

Negotiations are now underway between grocery store chains in Northern California and their workers, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). This could lead to a major fight over the future of health benefits for tens of thousands of Californians, with implications for the rest of us.

EARLIER STRIKE: Earlier this year in Southern California, these contract disputes, mainly over health care, led to a 139-day strike and lockout of nearly 70,000 workers, extending from October 11th, 2004 to Febrary 29th, 2004.

DEADLINES UPCOMING: The contract of UCFW Local 588, which represents 15,000 Sacramento-area grocery workers, expires in a week-and-a-half, on July 17th, 2004. The contracts with 30,000 Bay Area grocery workers expire soon afterwards, on September 11th, 2004.

HEALTH THE ISSUE: In both cases, the biggest dispute is over health benefits, as described in this July 4th San Francisco Chronicle article, entitled "Grocery Talks To Move Northward: Health Care Looms As Big Issue, As It Did In Rest Of The State."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/07/04/BUGB67G3Q51.DTL&type=printable

SUPPORT SOUGHT: UFCW Local 588 is looking for support from health advocacy and community organizations in their fight to preserve the health benefits of their workers. When large employers scale back the health benefits of their workers, or drop them altogether for certain groups of employees, it creates more uninsured and underinsured onto an already-overburdened health care system. In addition, such changes creates additional pressure on competing employers to follow suit and also scale back coverage, leading to a ripple effect through the state. UFCW Local 588 has started a Healthy Californians coalition to help fight to preserve health care benefits for working Californians and their families. The coalition has a web page at: http://www.healthycalifornians.org/

Health Access and other health advocates support this and other efforts to preserve the health benefits that California workers now rely on. Organizations who wish to join the Healthy Californians coalition can sign up at the web site at: http://www.healthycalifornians.org/pledge_card.htm

Labels: Updates

posted by Anthony Wright | Permalink | 3:16 PM


 

Digging a bigger whole for reform...

 

Scoring at home...

 

We are hiring, to make a difference...

 

Field Poll: strong opposition to the health cuts.....

 

An Unhealthy Trend

 

Dressing up the Individual (Market)

 

A great debate on the great divide...

 

Jones to be chair of Health Committee...

 

Bass on the budget...

 

Pretty soon, the insureable will be a pretty exclu...