California rejects access measures; funding concerns cited

But voters approve using state money for stem cell research and other health care priorities.

By Joel B. Finkelstein, AMNews staff. Nov. 22/29, 2004.

Washington -- Voters in California struck down several measures that could have improved access to medical services for insured and uninsured residents but sealed their reputation as health care trendsetters with $3 billion in funding for stem cell research.

The state's voters rejected, 49% to 51%, a referendum that would have upheld a law that would have required medium and large businesses to provide health care coverage to their employees or pay into a state-run health plan for their workers.

It also would have created a panel of experts responsible for setting the minimum standards for mandated health benefits under the "pay-or-play" measure.

The mandate was signed into law by former Gov. Gray Davis and was scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2006. It was opposed by the state's large employers.

The opposition, which was coordinated by California's Chamber of Commerce, spent millions of dollars to get the referendum on the ballot and then to run advertisements against the law.

They argued that the mandate would hurt small businesses and discourage companies from coming to the state. Opponents also criticized the measure as hastily written, poorly structured and lacking in detail.

The law was rushed through in the last days of the Davis administration and has been very controversial, said Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, a Los Angeles think tank, which offered nonpartisan analyses of the health care ballot initiatives for a voter information Web site sponsored by the California Healthcare Foundation.