6FRunning head: HEALTH CARE ACCESS SB 810 THE CALIFORNIA UNIVERSAL

Health Care Access SB 810 the California Universal Health Care Act
Polly Ankenbauer
Grand Canyon University
Health Care and Economic Analysis
HCA 255
Barri Mallin
August 12, 2011

The purpose of this assignment is to choose a legislative proposal regarding health care access and discuss the current program as well as ways the new legislation will improve access. The proposal chosen for this assignment is, State Senate Bill 810 authored by Senator Mark Leno; a Democrat from the city of San Francisco and presented in March 2011 as The California Universal Health Care Act. This landmark legislation establishes a modern universal health care system to cover every California resident with comprehensive benefits for life, building upon the well-tested principles of our popular Medicare program that American seniors have relied on for decades. SB 810 provides universal care without increasing overall health care spending in California (One-care 2011). Currently residents of the state of California are either privately insured through employer benefit, private pay, or enrolled in either the Medi-cal or Healthy Families Program and a large percentage are without health insurance.
SB 810 is a “Medicare for All” style single-payer health care reform plan. Single-payer is a term used to describe a type of financing system. It refers to one entity acting as administrator, or “payer.”(Mclaughlin & Mclaughlin, 2008). California currently spends $200 billion annually on a fragmented, inefficient health care system that wastes 30% of every dollar on administration. Under Senate Bill 810, that wasteful spending is eliminated. The bill creates no new spending, and in fact, studies show that the state would save $8 billion in the first year under this single-payer health care plan. (San Francisco