Sacramento - Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) today provided a preview of significant legislation he is carrying that will strengthen the state’s healthcare workforce and ensure millions of Californians benefit from President Obama’s healthcare reforms. The Speaker is expected to testify on his bills in Assembly committees today.
“This legislation will help ensure that individuals and small businesses in California can benefit from federal healthcare reform, and we’re making sure California law includes the necessary changes to bring in new resources made available by the President’s reforms,” Pérez said. “I’m also pleased to be working to help provide the highly-trained healthcare workforce we will need in the coming decades by moving to get rid of the bottleneck in nursing and allied health students training and accelerating the training program for these students.”
AB 2385, to be heard before the Assembly Committee on Higher Education, would create a pilot program at five community college campuses throughout the state aimed at accelerating the training of healthcare workers from two years or more to 18 months or less. California’s community colleges train 70 percent of nurses statewide but cannot keep up with the growing demand for nurses and allied health professionals.
AB 1602, to be heard before the Assembly Committee on Health, would enact key health insurance consumer protections that take effect in six months, as provided in the recently passed federal health reform law, and establishes in 2011 the state health insurance exchange where individuals can claim their federal premium and cost sharing subsidies and small businesses gain large group purchasing power.
Specifically, the bill:
- Extends dependent coverage to age 26
- Eliminates lifetime limits in the individual and group markets
- Eliminates annual limits in the individual and group markets without the permission of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
- Eliminates cost sharing (co-pays, deductibles) for certain recommended preventive services, screenings and immunizations, such as breast, cervical and colorectal cancer; childhood immunizations; HIV/AIDS
- Eliminates pre-existing condition exclusions for children
- Establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange effective January 1, 2011, and provides it authority to start planning activities and accept available federal dollars
- Provides the Exchange the necessary authority to set up the new, more organized insurance marketplace where eligible individuals can claim their federal tax subsidies towards health insurance
Also to be heard before the Assembly Committee on Health is the Speaker’s AB 2352, which would save lives and taxpayer money by providing organ transplant patients with 2 years of anti-rejection medication under Medi-Cal if alternative coverage from Medicare or private insurance is not available.
A fact sheet regarding AB 1602 is attached.
Website of Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez: www.asmdc.org/speaker
Contact: Speaker’s Press Office (916) 319-2408
Below are links to audio from today’s news conference.
Assembly Speaker Pérez describes the legislation in his opening remarks at today’s news conference. (1:48)
Speaker Pérez says one of the critical elements of the legislation is the creation of the health care exchange. (:48)
Speaker Pérez says GOP opposition to the federal health care reform package is short sighted. (:26)
Speaker Pérez says no matter what health care components are called by the media it is a good idea to provide a pathway to health care. (:13)
Speaker Pérez says the main purpose of the legislation is to insure California takes advantage of the federal health care reform package. (:10)
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