Senate Health Committee on deadline day

Senate Health Committee, Chaired by Doctor Ed Hernandez met today and heard the following bills of interest to health advocates. Here’s a report by our Sawait Hezchias-Seyoum:

* Health Access sponsored legislation, AB 2088 (Hernandez) would close a loophole in federal law which allows insurers to sell large employers skinny benefit plans that do not meet ACA requirements. The bill passed out with a vote of 6-2.

* AB 1792 (Gomez), which would require the Employment Development Department to report on receipt of public assistance by employees of California employers, passed out with a vote of 6-1.

* AB 1558 (Hernandez) which would allow create a health care cost and quality database at the University of California, and publish studies on health care cost and quality passed out with a vote of 6-1.

* AB 1759 (Pan) which as amended would require an annual independent assessment of Medi-Cal provider reimbursement rates and their impact on access to care and quality of care in the Medi-Cal program passed out with a vote of 8-0.