Commentary : Four Ways to Look at Deukmejian’s Employee Health Insurance Plan

Gov. Deukmejian’s health-care bill is a step in the right direction, even if it is too little too late for too many. There is a desperate need for a comprehensive health-care package, but this one falls way short of the need. The facts are:

* 80,000 homeless families would be left without adequate health care.

* The average, single, homeless person is 35 years old and not eligible for Medi-Cal.

* Many of those the program is intended to help will not be able to find a doctor. Only 7% of the members of the Orange County Medical Assn. will accept Medi-Cal patients.

* The reality is that many homeless are on the streets because of their inability to survive the financial strain of medical expenses caused by catastrophic illness.

Too often, well-intended programs developed by people with little experience among the poor only help create a system that serves to further exacerbate the problems and frustrate those it was designed to help.

This program not only does not address the needs of the truly poor but has the potential, in fact, to drive those it is designed to help--the working poor--into the ranks of the homeless.

I know Gov. Deukmejian is a caring, compassionate man as demonstrated by this proposal. Good beginning, I say to him, but we must design a health-care program that meets the needs of all the citizens of California.