Universal health care in California carries a hefty price tag

Taxes on businesses and others are discussed as ways to pay for covering the uninsured.

By Robert Kazel, AMNews staff. May 12, 2003.

California officials, searching for ways to cover millions of medically uninsured residents while wrestling with a state budget crisis, received an estimate in April of how much one approach to universal care would cost: $7.8 billion a year.

The plan, proposed last year by Blue Shield of California chief executive Bruce Bodaken, would be paid for by businesses, the state government and individuals, a study said, with additional financing from hikes in the state sales tax or income tax.

Bodaken drew national attention last December when he advocated statewide health coverage to solve the problem of the state's 6.6 million currently uninsured residents. The new, Blue Shield-funded study examines the affordability of such a program.

Under the proposed plan, all employers in the state would be required to buy health insurance for full-time and contract workers or pay them an equivalent amount. Residents who have no coverage through employers or the government would have to purchase insurance as individuals from private insurers.

The plan calls for government subsidies both for small businesses unable to afford insurance for workers and for low-income residents needing assistance to purchase individual policies. Insurers would not be allowed to turn down anyone due to preexisting medical conditions.

The $7.8 billion in added expense would be shared as follows:

• State of California, $4.5 billion.
• Businesses, $3.2 billion.
• Individuals, $63 million.