New Data Show Lack of Health Insurance Is Prevalent Across California

September 22, 2009

New data released today show that lack of health coverage is a widespread problem across California. The US Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey (ACS) – asking about health coverage for the first time – found that one out of five Californians under age 65 (19.7 percent, or 6.3 million) were uninsured at the time of the survey during 2008, compared to 16.7 percent in the rest of the US. This finding is similar to that of a different Census Bureau survey released a couple of weeks ago, which we blogged about.

Of the 40 California counties for which the ACS reported data (smaller counties are excluded), 17 counties had a higher share of residents under age 65 without health coverage than did the state as a whole. For example, 21.6 percent of non-elderly Fresno County residents lacked coverage in 2008, as did 24.5 percent of Los Angeles County residents and 23.3 percent of Riverside County residents. Tulare County had the highest rate of uninsured residents under age 65 – 27.3 percent.

These data are yet another indicator of the importance of passing comprehensive federal health reform.

– Scott Graves and Raul Macias

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Posted by cbporg

Podcast: Taking a Hard Look at the Tax Commission Plan

September 21, 2009

In this podcast, CBP Executive Director Jean Ross talks about the Commission on the 21st Century Economy’s plan to overhaul the state’s tax system. The proposals won’t solve the state’s budget crises. In fact, they’ll probably make them worse. California’s middle- and low-income residents will be the hardest hit. And at the heart of the proposal is a new tax called the business net receipts tax, but there’s almost nowhere in the world with a tax quite like it.

Still hungry for more about the Commission’s tax plan? Read the CBP’s longer analysis of their proposals. Read about the Commission’s proposed new tax structure. Read an alternative to the Commission’s plan proposed by Richard Pomp, a member of the Commission and professor of law at the University of Connecticut. And finally, you can read a letter by some of the nation’s top tax policy experts voicing concerns about the plan.

– Lisa Gardiner

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Posted by cbporg

An End to the Healthy Families Saga

September 16, 2009

This afternoon, the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB), which administers the Healthy Families Program, voted to resume enrolling children for the first time since July 16 and to reverse its prior decision to remove tens of thousands of children from the program every month beginning November 1. The board was able to take these actions largely because alternative sources of funding were identified to plug the $196 million General Fund shortfall (primarily caused by state budget cuts) that Healthy Families faced in 2009-10:

  • As we reported in August, the state First 5 Commission voted to provide $81.4 million in tobacco-tax revenues to support enrollment of children through age 5 in Healthy Families.
  • Last week, the Legislature sent the Governor AB 1422 (Bass), which will raise an estimated $97 million in 2009-10 for Healthy Families by imposing a gross premium tax of 2.35 percent on Medi-Cal Managed Care plans. The Governor said in a recent press release that he would sign the bill.
  • The remaining shortfall ($17.5 million) was closed by shifting costs to families – specifically by increasing families’ premiums and copays for certain services – and restricting children’s access to higher-cost dental plans for their first two years on the program.

MRMIB’s action means that the nearly 90,000 children who were on the waiting list as of September 14 will gradually be shifted to Healthy Families. However, MRMIB staff reported that it could take 20 business days to work through the backlog. In the meantime, the waiting list will continue to operate until the applications of all children on the list are processed. Applications submitted during the next few weeks, as the backlog is whittled down, will go to “the bottom of the pile,” according to MRMIB staff – meaning they won’t be processed until the applications for kids currently on the waiting list have been reviewed.

– Scott Graves

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Posted by cbporg

That’s “Reform” in Quotations

September 14, 2009

Be sure and check out Jean Ross’ column in Calbuzz today, which examines the proposed changes to the state’s tax system recommended by the Commission on the 21st Century Economy. She states that the proposals’ biggest winners are California’s millionaires, who would receive personal income tax breaks averaging $109,000 per year. The losers? Middle-income families who might receive a small reduction in their personal income taxes but would pay more for good and services under the “value-added” tax the Commission proposes.

Jean writes that the Commission’s proposals rely on a risky, largely untested new tax opposed by some of the nation’s most prominent tax policy experts and that the Commission’s proposals would worsen, not improve, the state’s budget crises.

But don’t take my word for it. Read the column yourself.

– Lisa Gardiner

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Posted by cbporg

Lots Not to Like

September 11, 2009

Yesterday, I, and a number of other interested individuals, traveled to the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles for the penultimate meeting of the Commission on the 21st Century Economy. I’d hoped to testify during the public comment period, noticed for the beginning of the 11:00 a.m. meeting, on the agenda posted for the Commission’s meeting. Unfortunately, the Commission failed to allow me, or others in attendance, to speak until nearly 6:00 p.m. after all but one individual – not me – had left to catch the last flight home. Commission Chair Gerald Parsky then told the one stalwart member of the public that he could have one minute to make his remarks. It is worth noting that those who traveled to the Commission’s July meeting were also allowed just a single minute to comment on the Commission’s sweeping proposals to remake California’s tax code.  Had I been given the opportunity to speak, I would have addressed the key points outlined in the CBP’s expanded analysis of the proposal pending before the Commission.

The Commission will hold its final meeting in Berkeley on Monday.

–Jean Ross

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