Gov. urges wellness coverage

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration proposed Thursday that California insurers be required to offer benefits that include disease-prevention programs such as those to help people stop smoking, manage their diabetes and be screened for breast cancer.

The insurers, as well as state health programs such as Medi-Cal, would have to offer incentives to participants. The incentives could include vouchers, premium reductions or credits for health-related items such as gym memberships or Weight Watchers. Employers would have to buy those plans for workers to have access to them.

The administration also announced that as part of Schwarzenegger’s health overhaul proposal, which he plans to fully unveil next week, employers would be required to allow their workers to make pretax health insurance contributions. Many employers already do so, but tax authorities estimate that it could save California employees $8.4 billion a year in federal, state and Social Security taxes.

Neither idea is particularly controversial. Both have long appealed to Schwarzenegger because of their emphasis on healthy lifestyles and personal responsibility.

“It’s very nice, but it’s not very much,” said Beth Capell, a lobbyist for Health Access California, a statewide consumer advocacy group. “We await the real proposal.”

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) struck a similar chord, saying in a prepared statement: “What really worries most Californians is what happens when they or their kids do get sick, and that’s where we need to hammer out creative solutions on access and affordability.”

The prevention program was inspired by an effort undertaken by Safeway. Facing mounting healthcare costs, the grocery chain revised the way it provided healthcare to give employees strong incentives to take care of themselves. The company pays all of employees’ preventive healthcare expenses, such as the cost of regular checkups.

Schwarzenegger is “a big believer that wellness programs, properly delivered to people, [are] a very valuable item in the system,” said Jeff Miles, vice president of the California Assn. of Health Underwriters. “I do believe it will keep the cost of healthcare lower, but it’s going to take time.”

The requirement that employers allow workers to make pretax contributions to their healthcare premiums is aimed mostly at smaller companies and those that don’t offer insurance. The employers’ role would be bureaucratic, and the governor’s office said it would not cost companies more than $200 to set up such programs.

“It isn’t a huge burden on them, and it’s one way they can share in the responsibility,” said Ruth Liu, an associate secretary at the state Health and Human Services Agency.

Vince Sollitto, spokesman for the California Chamber of Commerce, said his group supported the governor’s pretax plan and would like to see the federal government expand the program, known as Section 125 plans, so that limited liability corporations would also be allowed to use them.

Sollitto expressed concern that the insurance mandate could lead to higher costs for insured workers who don’t need the newly proposed program.

Both of Schwarzenegger’s proposals must be passed by the Democrat-led Legislature to become law.

jordan.rau@latimes.com