What if California Had Passed Health Care Reform?

California lawmakers recently passed a budget that, at least on paper, may, perhaps close the $42 billion shortfall the state faces in this and the next fiscal year. The budget was due before July 2008. So it was a bit less than eight months overdue. One of the methods required to close the gap was to reduce funding to some of the state’s neediest citizens.

Lawmakers inability to find a budget compromise in a timely fashion and in such a cruel fashion speaks volumes about a dangerous and dysfunctional political system. It brings into question whether California lawmakers can be trusted with something as critical to its citizens as the nature of its health care system, which would have happened had California enacted Assembly Bill X1-1 last year. Given the state’s current economic and political problems, what would have happened had health care reform passed in early 2009?

ABX1-1, you may recall, passed the Assembly, was supported by the Governor, but was defeated in the Senate early last year. A major reason for its demise was a Legislative Analyst’s Office Report on ABX1-1 that raised serious concerns about the state’s ability to implement the reform package within the $14 billion price tag touted by its supporters, primarily Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. then Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and then President Pro Tem Don Perata. Using what it considered to be optimistic assumptions of the bill’s sponsors, the LAO concluded the plan would be running a deficit of $300 million. Using more conservative (and what the LAO called, more realistic assumptions), it estimated the health care plan would be running a deficit of $1.5 billion in it’s fifth year and have run up a cumulative deficit of $4 billion during it’s first half-decade of operation.

Supporters of the health care reform bill protested that the LAO report underestimated savings from fixing the state’s broken health care system. They relied on a study conducted by professor Jonathan Gruber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that demonstrated the reform package was a net financial plus for the state.

Yet the Gruber report made some questionable assumptions. The LAO report noted, for example, that the Gruber model “is not designed to estimate the effects of an economic slowdown on population responses” to the various elements of the reform.”  Translation:  if the economy tanks the Gruber analysis doesn’t work. That’s because, according to the LAO report, ABX1-1’s proponents assumed then current growth rates would continue over time. “For example, the cost of expanding Medi-Cal to adults was grown at the projected growth rate for current Medi-Cal expenses, while the wage-based employer fee was projected to grow at the projected growth rate for wages.”

But tank the economy did (and has). Time and again, the LAO report, delivered to the Legislature on January 22, 2008, warned against the danger of mis-predicting the future. “California is subject periodically to slowdowns in economic activity. During these times, unemployment often increases. This reduces the number of Californians with access to employer-provided healthcare. A recession similar to the one California experienced in the early 1990s could result in hundreds of thousands of Californians losing access to employer-provided health care, thereby increasing the costs for the [health care reform] plan.”

Statistics published by the California Economic Development Department puts this into context. In January 2008, when the LAO report was published, the state’s unemployment rate had been below six percent for three years, dipping below five percent in 2006. This compares to the state’s unemployment rate during the 1990s recession of more than nine percent during most of 1992 and 1993, peaking during several months at 9.9 percent. California’s current unemployment, at least during January 2009, was 10.1 percent. The worst case scenario the LAO warned against has arrived.

I don’t bring all this up to deny the need for substantial health care reform. For the state and national economies to recover sooner-than-later, substantial changes to the health care system are necessary. In times of economic dislocation like we are experiencing now, the human need for change in health care is especially acute and poignant. Unemployment is about more than data and statistics, it’s about neighbors and families in pain.

Nor am I raising this issue to gloat over the failure of ABX1-1. A number of the reforms contained in that legislation would have significantly improved California’s health care system.

These statistics, however, point to several truths:

1. Predicting the future is hard, if not impossible. Any reform package has to make assumptions about the economic environment years from now. And most likely, those estimates will be wrong.
2. Meaningful health care reform must come from the federal government — state’s simply aren’t equipped to deal with it. This isn’t to say there aren’t good ideas emerging from the states. But they lack the tools needed to deal with unexpected problems. As California has ably demonstrated, states do a poor job of facing economic challenges. They can’t deficit spend. The federal government has a tough time influencing the economy; states simply can’t.

Think about the budget drama of the past eight months. Now think about a health care structure upon which the state’s residents depends being subject to this horrendous display of chaos. It’s more than scary. It’s a nightmare that eventually California — or any state — will likely face if it tries to tackle the complex issues of comprehensive health care reform aimed at achieving anything close to universal coverage. Until states can print money, they will be incapable of shepherding their health systems through economic times like these.

America’s economy will recover. It’s only a matter of time and hard work. The nation’s health care system can be reformed into a truly American-style system that achieves universal — or nearly universal — coverage. It’s also a matter of time, hard work as well as of smart politics able to find common ground among competing factions. It won’t be easy, but it can be done.

No one during the debate over ABX1-1 could have anticipated what’s happened to the economy. The LAO warned against the potential, but even they did not declare this situation likely. Yet here we are. If ABX1-1 had passed the California fiscal crisis would be even worse than it is. And the state’s lawmakers would have been unable to face the challenge.

Quarter of Legislature Missed California’s Year of Health Care Reform

One day the politicans in Sacramento may pass a budget. Once (if?) that happens, lawmakers will turn their attention to, well, making laws. And some of those laws will impact health care coverage in California.

A lot of progress was made during the Year of Health Care Reform (2007 and a bit of 2008). The debate was intense and comprehensive reform nearly passed. It was approved by the State Assembly and supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, but defeated in the State Senate. The new debate is likely to start somewhere near where the last one ended.

For many legislators, however, the health care debate will be somewhat a matter of first impression. Of the 11 new Senators, all previously served in the Assembly. And of the 28 new Assembly Members, two have previously served in the Senate. However, four of the new Senators and one of the freshman AssemblyMembers were out of office during at least since 2006. So they missed all the educational opportunities the Year of Health Care Reform offered.

Needless to say there’s a lot of interested parties seeking to bring them up to speed. And California isn’t the only state where newbie lawmakers need to figure out how the current health care system works before they start in on messing with it. One resource they’ll have is the 2009 State Legislators’ Guide to Health Insurance Solutions and Glossary published by the Council for Affordable Health Insurance and the American Legislative Exchange Council. (My thanks to agent Bruce Jugan for bringing this Guide to my attention). CAHI is an insurance industry group so, guess what? Yep, it’s got a spin to it. Meaning few wil agree with everything it says (I don’t).

Nonetheless it’s an interesting overview of health care reform issues at a very high level. The Guide is not state specific, so it won’t fill in the gaps for legislators looking for a refresher course on California’s recent debate, but that lack of specificity is also a plus. The high-level perspective provides a good foundation for understanding the broad outlines of the issue. And the glossary is very handy.

If anyone out there knows of similar guides, but from other perspectives, please send them my way. Understanding the upcoming health care reform debate requires an understanding of how lawmakers think about the issue. And to understand that it can’t hurt to read what they are reading. Or at least, what they should be reading.

Do Schwarzenegger Vetoes Signal a Push for Comprehensive Reform in 2009?

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a host of health care reform bills on Tuesday. Some of them were to be expected. For example, he struck down Senate Bill 840, Senator Sheila Keuhl’s attempt to create a government-run, single payer system in the state. The Governor has been on record as opposing this approach for years and has vetoed the concept in the past. His vetoes of several bills requiring medical plans to include coverage for certain conditions is also consistent with his previously stated opposition to coverage mandates.

But there were lots of surprises on the list, too. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that would have made it far more difficult for carriers to insurance companies to rescind an insured once they’ve accepted an application for individual or family coverage (Assembly Bill 1945 by Assemblyman Hector De La Torre. No carrier practice has garnered more negative press — and bigger fines — than rescission. From a political point of view, AB 1945 was a soft ball. Yet Governor Schwarzenegger struck it down.

He vetoed legislation (Senate Bill 1440 by Senator Keuhl) to compel carriers to spend 85 percent of the premium they take in on medical care — even though this concept was contained in the unsuccessful comprehensive health care reform package the Governor was pushing for last year. The same fate befell Senate Bill 973 by Senator Joe Simitian that would have created a statewide public insurer to link together existing regional and county-based health plans even though it too was similar to a portion of the Governor’s own reform plan.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s veto of Assembly Bill 2 by Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally was especially surprising. It would have expanded the ability of the state’s existing high risk pool to help more Californians unable to qualify for coverage in the private marketplace due to pre-existing health conditions.  The program needs significant help to continue to meet its mission. He also vetoed Senate Bill 981 by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata which would have prohibited “balance billing” by doctors and other care providers.

The Governor had his reasons for keeping these bills from becoming law. His veto message concerning AB 1945 deplored the practice of unfair rescission and listed consumer-protection provisions he would want to see in legislation dealing with the issue. But he noted that AB 1945 was “written by the attorneys that stand to benefit from its provisions” and would lead to unwarranted litigation. Similarly, he preferred a different solution to the problem of balance billing than the approach embodied in SB 981.

Vetoes of this type, over approaches to solving problems, are common. They represent legitimate policy and political differences. The Legislature, for example, considered several bills addressing recission. They could have worked with the Governor’s office to fashion a compromise that he would sign. That didn’t happen. The veto did.

But it’s Governor Schwarzenegger’s rationale for vetoing AB 2, SB 1440, and SB 973 that best illuminates what’s in store for California concerning heatlh care reform. In all three of his veto messages, Governor Schwarzenegger made clear he wants comprehensive health care reform. Piecemeal and incremental changes are unacceptable.

I’ve written previously about why state health care reform efforts usually fail. In my mind, meaningful and comprehensive reform will need to come from Washington. And while enacting such reform has been greatly complicated by the current financial crisis, it still remains near the top of the domestic agendas for both Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama.

If the new Congress and the next Administration succeed in enacting dramatic health care reforms, it could preempt laws and regulations at the state level. To me, this suggests the efforts of California’s leaders might best be spent in helping to shape what happens in Washington, DC. Governor Schwarzenegger apparently disagrees.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s vetoes make clear he intends to pursue a California solution. It’s not just what the veto messages say, it’s their political impact that is important. They keep pressure on lawmakers to enact substantial reform. His opponents, for example, will be unable to call for a “time out” on further changes to the system while the new laws are given a chance to work. His allies, while angry at the vetoes, will work all the harder to get their pet reforms enacted.

In some significant ways, the potential for success is greater in 2009 than it was in 2008. Governor Schwarzenegger will be negotiating with a new cast of Legislative Leaders.  He will will be working with a relatively new Legislature, many of whom will have no scars with from his previous effort. Yet, unlike in 2007 when he launched the Year of Health Care Reform, a year in which, for most of it, the Governor offered only general principals, in 2009 he can use his defeated reform legislation, Assembly Bill X1-1, as a detailed starting point.

Certainly, the task won’t be easy. It may even be impossible. The state’s finances are in shambles and health care reform is expensive.

But there’s a legacy to be attended to. Plus, the Governor does not like to lose and the defeat of ABX1-1 was both visible and painful. His vetoes are a clear signal of where he’s headed. Expect 2009 to be the Year of Health Care Reform. Again.

Single Payer Losing Ground

This should be the best of times for advocates of a single payer health care system in America. The environment for radical change has never been better. After years of hammering at problems in the current system, there is general agreement on the need for substantial change. When asked what single issue will most impact their vote for president, a substantial number of voters have consistently cited health care according to the Kaiser Health Tracking Polls. For example, in the August 2008 survey, 16% cited health care as their determinative issue, ranking this concern behind only the Economy (49%), Iraq (25%) and and Gas Prices 18%). Significantly, health care reform is a critical part of the economy and 24% of the respondents said paying for health care and health insurance was a serious problem. 

Meanwhile, legislation to create a single payer system has been introduced in Congress and several states. In California, the Legislature passed a bill to create a state-run health plan:(Senate Bill 840 by Senator Sheila Kuehl. (It currently is awaiting a veto by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger).

Given all this momentum for radical change, you would think a government-run system would be a major issue in the presidential campaign, yet it’s not. Clearly, Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee is not going to support a single payer system. What’s significant, however, is that Democrats are not advocating this approach either. Neither the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama. nor his chief rival through the primary season, Senator Hillary Clinton, called for a government takeover of America’s health care system. Even the Democratic Party platform rejects a single payer system.

The 2008 Democratic National Platform, Renewing America’s Promise, gives its approach to heath care reform considerable prominence. Here’s some meaningful excerpts from the document:

“Democrats are united around a commitment that every American man, woman and child be guaranteed affordable, comprehensive healthcare.”

“Our vision includes: Covering All Americans and Providing Real Choices of Affordable Health Insurance Options.  Families and individuals should have the option of keeping the coverage they have or choosing from a wide array of health insurance plans, including many private health insurance options and a public plan. Coverage should be made affordable for all Americans with subsidies provided through tax credits and other means.”

“Shared Responsibility. health care should be a shared responsibility between employers, workers, insurers, providers and government. All Americans should have coverage they can afford; employers should have incentives to provide coverage to their workers; insurers and providers should ensure high quality affordable care; and the government should ensure that health insurance is affordable and provides meaningful coverage. As affordable coverage is made available, individuals should purchase health insurance and take steps to lead healthy lives.”

“Meaningful Benefits. Families should have health insurance coverage similar to what Members of Congress enjoy.”

This is not the language of single payer advocates. Yes, the Democrats call for coverage for all Americans that is “similar to what Members of Congress enjoy.” And they want to protect Americans from “the burden of skyrocketing premiums, unaffordable deductibles or benefit limits that leave them at financial risk when they become sick.” So we’re not talking about a “hands-off” approach here.

But we’re also not talking about a single payer system. Advocates of SB 840 claim as one of its chief benefits the elimination of health insurers and HMOs. That’s a long way from the platform’s call for “keeping private health insurance options” available.

There will be robust debate in Washington concerning health care reform. As I’ve written previously, a bipartisan coalition of Senators is waiting for the new president with their own health care reform package. Single Payer advocates are not going away. They will throw their proposals into the mix, but this won’t change the reality: the Democratic nominee and his party’s platform have rejected the single payer approach.

So here’s the question: if single payer advocates can’t win when the political stars are so strongly aligned in their favor, will they ever win?

My take is that the stars are realigning in such a way to make the answer a resounding “no.” Over the next two-to-four years there is a real possibility that Congress and the new president will pass meaningful, comprehensive health care reform. That’s another two-to-four years in which the cracks in existing single payer systems around the world will deepen, broaden and become more apparent. Faced with a new alternative to what will increasingly be seen as a nonviable approach at hand being rolled out, single payer advocates won’t go away, but they won’t be successful either.

The Need to Do Something — But SB 1440 Isn’t It

We elect politicians to solve problems. That’s their job. It’s what we pay them for. No one campaigns for office proclaiming their intent to accomplish nothing. There’s always some injustice to right. There’s always a mess to fix. So no one should be surprised that current lawmakers in Sacramento are desperate to do something about California’s health care system. After all, there are real problems in the current system.

But there’s a difference between lawmakers really addressing problems and simply looking like their addressing problems. Take Senate Bill 1440 authored by Senator Shiela Keuhl. The bill would require carriers to spend 85 percent of the premium they take in on medical care. As originally introduced, SB 1440 would have had a devastating impact on the individual health insurance market. It would have increased costs, decreased competition and made it nearly impossible for independent agents to assist consumers in finding the right plan for their needs.

Fortunately, SB 1440 has been substantially amended since its original introduction. As it reads today, the biggest problem with the bill is it requires carriers to segregate their Department of Managed Care regulated plans from those regulated by the Department of Insurance. While it’s not surprising regulators and legislators perceive these plans to be worthy of distinction, from a consumer’s point of view it’s a meaningless difference. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senator Keuhl should address this issue in their negotiations concerning the legislation. But that’s not the overriding problem with SB 1440.

What’s wrong with SB 1440 is that it won’t lower premiums, which is the stated purpose of the bill. The Rand Corporation in a report by Neeraj Sood and Eric Sun titled “Health Insurance Premiums in California: The Role of Administrative Cost and Profits” examined the results of similar legislation in other states. They found states with no Medical Loss Ration legislation spend statistically the same percentage of premium as those that regulated the entire market (83 percent and 84 percent, respectively). While it’s true that states limiting the loss ratio of all coverage (individual, small group and large group) set targets at levels lower than the 85 percent called for by SB 1440, the report suggests consumers are unlikely to benefit from any premium savings.

The reason is that profits and administrative costs aren’t the problem with skyrocketing health care costs; it’s the price of medical treatment that drives premiums. The study found that 85 percent of the increase in revenue per enrollee between 2002 and 2006 was the result of medical costs.

Lawmakers could address 85 percent of the problem. But that’s hard work. It requires examining the drivers of increased medical costs and making tough decisions on how to reduce their rate of increase. It’s far easier (if less impactful) to go after health insurance companies and HMOs. Never mind that, as reported by the Rand study, the profits of California HMOs are less than the profitability of the companies comprising the S&P 500. The reality is that, along with oil and tobacco companies, they are about as easy a political target as exists.

So lawmakers will pass SB 1440 and declare a blow against rising insurance premiums. They may not be able to pass a budget, but they can teach those insurance companies a lesson. The fact that the legislation won’t have much, if any, impact on premiums is irrelevant. The fact that it won’t bring medical inflation down to general inflation levels doesn’t matter.

Because while we pay them for results, we have a tendency to elect lawmakers based on appearances. Which means the underlying problem remains.

California Health Care Reform: The Prequel

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t the first state executive to try to expand health care coverage in California. He won’t be the last. The effort goes back at least as far as 1945 when then Governor Earl Warren sought to impose a payroll tax to cover workers’ and their families.

Steve Wiegand of the Sacramento Bee describes what happened to the Warren proposal. It’s worth reading as a reminder of just how tough health care reform can be. Back then, Governor Warren faced opposition from Labor, the California Medical Association and the Chamber of Commerce. It was branded by some as “socialized medicine” and wound up being killed in the Assembly Health Committee along with competing reform plans.

 While Mr. Wiegand doesn’t delve into whether the details of Governor Warren’s plans was frought with problems or the strength of the California’s economy at the time, there’s still enough parallels to the state’s recent debate to create a sense of deja vu.

Over the past year I’ve become convinced that any meaningful reform will have to be national in scope. States are simply too constrained in addressing a national problem to make much headway. If the new president fails to enact meaningful health care reform, however, the states will need to address the matter. Again. Hopefully whoever is governor of California at the time will have learned from Governor Schwarzenegger’s efforts. And from Governor Warren’s, too.

Speaker Nunez on Health Care Reform 2008

According to Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, there’s no chance of California passing comprehensive health care reform before 2009 — if then. But that won’t stop the legislature from pursuing more narrowly focused  changes to the state’s health care system.

Frank Russo, who publishes the California Progress Report blog, was among those who talked to the Speaker following a press conference on Tuesday at the Sacramento Press Club.  Mr. Russo describes Speaker Nunez as being “quite animated” discussing the headlines that day concerning Blue Cross of California asking physicians to confirm the disclosure of pre-existing conditions on members’ applications (a practice Blue Cross has now discontinued). He quotes the Speaker as blasting the carrier and then promising, “No comprehensive health care package, but reforms to help improve the current health care system—absolutely.”

This is further evidence Senate Bill 840, Senator Shiela Kuehl’s legislation to establish a single payer system in California, is going nowhere this year. The Speaker again promised to subject the measure to the same level of scrutiny Senator Kuehl, as chair of the Senate Health Committee, gave to the Speaker’s comprehensive health care reform package, Assembly Bill ABX1-1. And if by some miracle — or political calculation — SB 840 were to be passed by the legislature, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would be certain to veto it.

Instead of comprehensive reform, I expect lawmakers to introduce several elements of ABX1-1. Setting a medical loss ratio target was an aspect of ABX1-1 that resonated with lawmakers — and will be looked at even more favorably in an election year. Bills addressing rescissions and establishing premium rate regulation mechanisms are also certain to emerge. There will be others. Few of these bills, however, are likely to become law. First, not all will pass. If money is a bill’s chances fall to near zero. Second, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will look closely at those that do make it through the legislature. During the health care reform negotiations that led to ABX1-1, he demonstrated a firm understanding of how the elements of ABX1-1 related to one another. He will likely be skeptical of a modular approach to reform, reasoning that without the checks and balances contained in ABX1-1, the consequences of a specific reform could do more harm than good.

There’s a good chance California won’t take another shot at comprehensive health care reform even in 2009. The timing will depend a great deal on who wins the White House in November. If a Democratic becomes president, California lawmakers will likely wait to see what progress on health care reform the new Administration can make. If a Republican wins, however, Democrats won’t wait. They’ll assume whatever reforms come out of Washington will be insufficient. The wild card in the timing? Governor Schwarzenegger. He’s termed out of office in 2010. He may want to finish what he started in 2007 while he can.

In either case, health care reform is not going away. Only the location may change.

A Short History of California’s “Year of Health Care Reform”

Over the past several months this blog has attempted to track the trajectory of health care reform in California. I had thought about combing through the various posts and summarizing the history of what happened. Now I don’t have to.  Daniel Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee has written a concise and insightful history of the rise and fall of California’s health care reform efforts. 

No doubt there will be people who disagree with his analysis. Assembly Bill ABX1-1, the compromise legislation that emerged from negotiations between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, was a complicated bill that went through a convoluted process. But Mr. Weintraub does a good job of touching on the highlights.

Some already have objected to his conclusion, that the bill died in a liberal/conservative crossfire. Yet there’s a lot of truth in this observation. Conservatives locked themselves out of the negotiations by refusing to even talk about potential tax increases. Several liberal groups refused to accept any compromise short of single payer while others on the left refused to accept anything short of premium price controls. Their objections created the framework in which negotiators had to operate. It narrowed their options and flexibility. It led directly to the creation of a bill that was financially unworkable.

California needs to move forward now. It’s first task is to get it’s financial house in order in a manner that does as little harm to existing health care programs as possible. That will be a herculean task. Personally I think any meaningful comprehensive health care reform has to, and will, come from Washington. But if legislators in Sacramento are going to move forward with their pet reforms, they’d do well to read Mr. Weintraub’s short history of the Year of Health Care Reform.

Speaker Nunez to Put Single Payer Under ABX1-1 Microscope

Few pieces of major legislation in recent years have been subjected to the scrutiny Assembly Bill X1-1 received last week. ABX1-1, the compromise health care reform bill proposed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Speaker Fabian Nunez, was the topic of an 11 hour hearing by the Senate Health Committee on January 23rd and a thorough analysis of its finances by the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Indeed, it was the LAO report that opponents on the committee cited most in justifying their position.

Now other health care reform proposals are about to go under the same microscope. Speaker Nunez has promised nothing less. And first in line is likely to be the single-payer legislation, Senate Bill 840, championed by Senate Health Committee Chair Sheila Kuehl.

Supporters of ABX1-1 held a press conference on Tuesday to affirm their commitment to enacting comprehensive health care reform for California. During his turn at the microphone, Speaker Nunez referred to ABX1-1 as a “road map to getting the right type of health care that we need, to be a bridge between those who want government run health to those who want the private market to dictate the pace of how health care is delivered.” He pledged to continue to pursue this type of reform.

At the same time, he made clear his intent to hold proponents of competing systems — and specifically single-payer proposals — to the high degree of scrutiny to which ABX1-1 was subjected. It’s worth noting that among ABX1-1’s most vehement opponents was the California Nurses Association. They insist the only health care reform worth enacting is one that eliminates the health insurance industry and turns health care over to the government.

“I think it’s time … to have an honest conversation about single payer,” the Speaker said. “We cannot create the false sense of hope that we can do something better if it hasn’t been tested, vetted and put through the same type of scrutiny that our effort has been put through. And I intend to put each and every proposal that seeks to cover health care for everybody through that same process, because I think it’s only fair. And because I also believe that we need to be comparing any proposal not to some wishful thinking of what we might be able to do two decades from now, but to the world we live in today.”

In the past Speaker Nunez has supported SB 840. In introducing his own reform package early last year, Assembly Bill 8, he commented that while he preferred a single-payer solution he accepted Governor Schwarzenegger’s promise to veto it. Yet now he seems intent on demonstrating that SB 840 presents an even greater financial risk for the state than did ABX1-1. And that shouldn’t be hard to do.

Sacramento Bee columnist Daniel Weintraub recently commented on similarities in the risks posed by SB 840 and ABX1-1.  “[T]he single payer plan, to be financed primarily by a 12 percent payroll tax, would have run up a deficit unless its managers could have slowed the growth in health care costs to below the level of the growth in wages — an extremely unlikely prospect. To control those deficits, the commission to be put in charge of health care would have been empowered to cut benefits and levy co-payments on consumers. Hardly a risk-free undertaking.”

ABX1-1 was subjected to extraordinary scrutiny. What’s surprising is that such vetting is extraordinary. Major legislative initiatives — especially on issues that touch the lives of Californians as profoundly as health care reform — should be put under an ABX1-1-like microscope. This kind of detailed evaluation is, after all, what legislators are supposed to do. If some popular proposals are found to offer nothing more than a false sense of hope, so be it. Better to learn that now than after it’s enacted.

More significantly, it’s this approach that will help lawmakers find responsible ways to address challenging and complex issues. Ways that few might consider perfect, but that the majority can conclude with confidence, is an improvement to the status quo.

Let the scrutiny begin.

ABX1-1 Postmortems

For those distracted by — oh, let’s face it — no one could have been so distracted as tp not know Assembly Bill X1-1 died in the Senate Health Committee on Monday. The compromise health care reform package hammered out by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Speaker Fabian Nunez received a single “aye” vote. Seven Senators, including all four Republicans, voted against it. Three of the committee’s seven Democrats abstained.

ABX1-1 was deeply flawed, but it also was creative and forward-looking. Many aspects of the legislation will be part of the health care reform debate — here in California and nationally — for years to come. Here’s a round-up of what folks are saying now that the year of health care reform is officially ended.

The Sacramento Bee’s Daniel Weintraub has a blunt, and on point, analysis of why ABX1-1 failed.

Frank Russo, who publishes the California Progress Report blog laments the liberal-against-liberal infighting that surrounded ABX1-1 and reminds all sides that “politics is the art of the possible.”

A sampling of California newspaper coverage from San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Diego Union and an editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle.

And here’s how out-of-towners reported on the demise of ABX1-1 in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and, from way out of town, a Chinese news outlet (why not?)

Here’s what Governor Schwarzenegger, Speaker Nunez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata had to say (the legislative leader’s statements were made prior to the Senate Health Committee vote). A video of a press conference held by the Governor and Speaker after the vote is on the Administration’s web site (right now it’s on the home page, I don’t know where it will be moved to later). And here’s where you can listen to Senator Perata’s press conference after the vote.

Finally, here’s a thorough review of what happened, and why, posted by the California Healthcare Foundation on its California’s Healthline web site.