The Jewish Public Affairs Committee

This morning legislative leaders, children’s advocates, and the Governor held a press conference to promote their willingness to pass health care reform for California in the next three weeks — or at least a piece of it.

Senate President pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez were joined by representatives from Children Now, California Children’s Health Initiatives, First 5 California, and Governor Schwarzenegger, as well as Senator Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Member John Laird, the authors of SB 32 and AB 1 respectively, to make one last push for reform in this legislative session.  The focus seemed to be on expanding coverage for children rather than a wholesale overhaul of the health care system.

Whether that package will be in the form of Perata and Nunez’s comprehensive stand-alone health care reform bill AB 8 or Steinberg and Lairds’ SB 32/AB 1 (identical bills to provide a “bridge” between Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families program by covering all children up to 300 percent of the FPL) remains to be seen.

Aked about funding sources, Nunez replied that AB 8 would require a General Fund contribution, but that the plan would pay for itself eventually with realized savings.  The Speaker also said any new reform would not kick in until July 1, 2008, because funding is simply not available in the 2007-08 budget signed last week by the Governor.

Steinberg and Laird estimated their bills would require $225 million in General Fund dollars, but that the plans can get off of the ground with less.  They went on to add that AB 1 and SB 32, which do not contain any funding sources in their current form, can either start with full funding or just year one funding.

At the press conference, First 5 California pledged $20 million toward a statewide effort to cover all children in California. 

Perata stated that he was weary of these press conferences and was ready to take action and develop “something that the Governor can take pride in signing.”

Nunez reiterated his belief that something can be accomplished, stating that, “we have time for kids in the next eight days,” and that “insuring all kids is a starting point.” He also held out hope that additional future funding sources — more federal dollars, a hospital fee, etc. — might ease the General Fund obligation.

The Governor continued to urge a full-blown reform proposal over a piecemeal approach, stating that “we don’t need a little solution to a big problem.” He deferred questions about a possible special session, and said that he and the legislative leaders were going to sit down and “add our ideas to AB 8.”

Further questions about funding were unanswered as were questions about the Bush administration’s recent crackdown on SCHIP funding and whether Republican legislators would vote for health care reform in any form.