Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill expanding health care coverage, particularly between employers and employees.

Highlights:

-Requires owners of business employing a minimum of 250 people to pay premiums toward health care coverage for their employees and dependents. Requires health care providers and insurers to offer a “benchmark plan” coverage option at the same rate as the Medi-Cal or Healthy Families programs (sec. 4). -Requires every full service health care provider to use a standardized health questionnaire and may not exclude any potential insurance client on the basis of actual or expected health, type of illness, treatment, medical condition, or accident, unless it is provided for by Section 12711.1 of the Insurance Code (sec. 9). -Establishes a family value package where the family contribution, depending on income, would range between $14 and $27 per family (sec. 10). -Establishes a program providing coverage for those ineligible for full- scope no-cost Medi-Cal or Medicare coverage, if they apply on behalf of a child, are a resident of California or physically present in California seeking employment, and have an annual or monthly family income equal to or less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level (sec. 11). -Requires that the California Health Insurance Purchasing Program (Cal-CHIPP) be established as a public purchasing pool for health insurance, to be funded by employers who opt to pay into it as an alternative to paying health care providers or insurers directly (sec. 14) -Requires employers to either make health care available to their fulltime or part-time employees and their dependents or pay the equivalent amount to the California Health Trust Fund (sec. 16).

Full Bill Text