The scent of change

It is a marvelous day when the (republican) governor of a large state, such as California, proposes a bill that essentially provides universal health care for all.

According to The New York Times article, " California's Governor Seeks Universal Care," the bill covers the following points:

• Medi-Cal, California's medicaid program, would be "extended to adults who earn as much as 100 percent above the federal poverty line and to children, regardless of their immigration status, living in homes where the family income is as much as 300 percent above that line, about $60,000 a year for a family of four."
• Insurance companies are prohibited from denying people coverage based on age or health status.
• Doctors and Hospitals would receive a higher reimbursement. However, they would have to pay 2% and 4% of total revenues, respectively, to help pay for the higher reimbursement.
• Employers who elect not to offer health insurance to their workers would be required to pay 4% "of their total Social Security wages to a state fund that would be created to subsidize the purchase of coverage by the working uninsured." (This may give companies more incentive to offer health insurance to their workers).
• 85% of the profits from the insurance companies would go directly to health care services.

This may seem like an ambitious bill but if it can help insure the millions of state residents that are currently uninsured, so much the better! (Currently, about 1/5 of California's population is uninsured).

Everyone will be keeping a close eye on California. Other states have tried a form of universal health coverage – Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont—with varying degrees of success and coverage. However, California is the largest by far. As the article states, "California is likely to set the stage for a national conversation about health care this year... Health care is going to be a major issue in the 2008 presidential election."

We can't wait to see what happens!