In one of his last acts as Governor, Gray Davis has signed landmard legislation that requires California employers with more than 20 employees to provide their workers with health coverage.
Over a million California working families will enjoy an added measure of security as the result of the Governorfs signing of SB2, a historic bill that mandates employer provided health insurance for currently uninsured workers in California. Sponsored by California Senate President John Burton SB2 requires that all California employers with 200 or more employees must provide family health coverage for their workers by January 1, 2006. Those employers with 20 or more employees must provide individual coverage by January 1, 2007.
SB2, also called Health Care for Working Families, requires that these gcoveredh employers pay a user fee into a into a state health purchasing fund that will purchase health insurance for eligible employees and their families. Those employers who provide their workers with health benefits will receive a credit against this fee.
Union members throughout California, including many Local 660 members, worked hard to pass SB2 and to insure that the Governor signed it. An intensive lobbying effort was responsible for putting the bill on a fast track in the Legislature. Thousands of cards and phone calls and personal lobbying by labor leaders of their local legislators and the Governor succeeded in making this important legislation a reality.
The law levels the playing field for California businesses. Most of the businesses covered by SB2 already provide health insurance for their workers. They will no longer face unfair competition from companies who refuse to provide health insurance for their workers. This will help union employers in their competion with companies like Wal-Mart, which does not provide coverage to 65% of its workers.
California currently has 6.7 million uninsured. SB2 will extend coverage to between 1 million and 1.5 million workers, including approximately 200,000 children. This will relieve some of the strain on our overcrowded emergency rooms. And it will save the state between $620 and $900 million every year in Medi-Cal payments.
Most businesses would like to provide health insurance for their workers. SB2 provides a way for them to do so more economically. By pooling the fees paid in by employers the state health purchasing fund will have greater leverage with providers and achieve lower health care costs for both employers and workers.
The law will prohibit employers from passing on to workers more than 20% of the cost of their health insurance. Employers who employ between 20 and 50 workers will be exempted from paying the fee until a tax credit to provide assistance to such employers is enacted by 2007.
Most importantly, SB2 will save lives and improve the quality of life for working families. People withouthealth insurance are sicker and die younger. They and their children often go without preventive care until they end up in emergency rooms. SB2 will provide working families with the care that they need and help unclog our emergency rooms to deal with real emergencys and traumas.
The Health Care for Working Families law will finally ensure that hard working, productive workers who pay taxes will get the health insurance that they deserve and that businesses will step up to their responsibility to provide health care for their workers and their families.