Ballot Proposal Seeks Health Care for All Californians

The president of a Los Angeles-based health care foundation has taken the first step toward placing an initiative on the 1992 state ballot that would direct the Legislature and the governor to adopt a program providing health insurance for all Californians.

Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Health Care Foundation, said he hopes his two-page proposal will attract voters who support universal health insurance but are leery of long, complicated ballot measures on major issues facing the state.

Rather than spell out a program in detail, Weinstein’s proposal offers an easily understood, seven-point outline for a comprehensive health insurance system, including containment of medical costs. In a provision unusual for a ballot initiative, the measure leaves it to the Legislature to decide how to implement the plan.

“What we are looking for really is to create a political mandate for health care reform,” Weinstein said. “We need something to get people off the dime.”

Whether Weinstein and his allies can qualify the measure for the November, 1992, ballot is in question. To do so, he will need to collect the signatures of about 600,000 registered voters. While Weinstein is politically active and has worked frequently with the Legislature on AIDS issues, he has no experience running an initiative campaign.

Still, Weinstein noted that he raises millions of dollars annually to support his foundation, which provides health and hospice care to patients who have AIDS or are infected with HIV, the AIDS virus. The ballot campaign would be run separately from the nonprofit foundation.

Gay rights activists who may be circulating an initiative to bar discrimination against gays might also gather signatures for the health care measure.

Weinstein has submitted his proposal to the attorney general for drafting of the summary description that appears on signature petitions.

The measure calls for the Legislature to require all employers to provide insurance for their workers or pay a tax into a government-run pool that would buy coverage from private insurers. The initiative would also require the Legislature to “provide for the health care coverage for every other resident of the state.”

No new taxes would be required to finance the plan beyond the tax on employers who do not provide health insurance for their workers.

To control medical costs, the measure suggests that overall costs be reduced 5% by cutting administrative expenses, expanding preventive care and eliminating duplicate services. It also calls on the Legislature to limit the inflation of medical costs to no more than the increase in retail prices.

Weinstein’s proposal caught off guard a network of special-interest players who have been focused on the possibility of a doctor-sponsored initiative. Although the physicians’ measure is still being drafted and may never move forward, two political committees--one representing insurers and the other small businesses--have been formed to keep it off the ballot or, failing that, defeat it.

Martyn Hopper, lobbyist for the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said his group would oppose any measure that requires businesses to provide insurance for their workers. He argues that lowering the cost of health care and insurance would prompt most employers to offer coverage without a government mandate.

“The problem won’t exist if the product is cheap enough,” Hopper said.

A spokeswoman for the California Medical Assn. said, meanwhile, that the group is no longer negotiating with Health Access, a coalition of consumer, labor and religious organizations that advocate a Canadian-style, universal health care system for California. Although doctors and consumer advocates had agreed on several concepts for an initiative, they were unable to translate that into a final product.

“The decision was made to cease discussions because it wasn’t going in a productive manner,” said Danielle Walters, a spokeswoman for the medical association.