Providing Health Insurance

We agree a total exam is needed of all of the health care reform proposals. We also agree that the Garamendi proposal does advance the debate; however, debate will not bring health care to the over 6.4 million Californians who are now without health insurance. Debate will not control spiraling health care costs.

What will solve this crisis? Action! And that is why the California Medical Assn. (CMA) filed a comprehensive health care reform initiative that will be on the ballot this November. The CMA’s initiative is titled Affordable Basic Care or ABC.

What will ABC do for you? If you have health insurance, ABC will limit rates increases and guarantee that your policy will not be canceled if you become ill. If you do not have insurance and work over 17.5 hours per week, ABC will require that your employer provide health insurance for you and your family.

Will ABC solve the entire access to health care problem? No. But ABC will provide coverage to the vast majority of uninsured Californians who are working men and women and their children. Over 4 million uninsured Californians--75% of the uninsured population--will be covered under ABC. Extending coverage to the non-working uninsured and part-time workers requires taxes. Taxes that the state cannot bear in this time of economic recession.

The state will be far better able--financially--to extend coverage to all Californians once ABC is enacted and the working uninsured are no longer a burden.

ABC promotes the only proven method of controlling costs--managed care. In addition, ABC establishes statewide guidelines of practice for physicians, eliminates administrative waste and limits insurance company charges. It institutes cost-controlling mechanisms and practices without compromising the quality of health care.

RICHARD CORLIN MD, President-Elect, CMA, San Francisco