‘Deal Makers & Deal Breakers: An Update on California’s Health Reform Efforts’

January 25, 2008
Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building
914 Capitol Mall Room 500
12:15 p.m. – 2 p.m.

Session Objective:

Last year may go down as “the year of health care reform in California.” Few issues received as much attention in the media during 2007 or were viewed with as much hope or as much fear as the “Secure and Affordable Health Care Act.” With the Senate poised to take up ABX1 1—passed late last year by the Assembly—and the tremendous energy surrounding the desire by Governor Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to enact meaningful health care reform, this Forum promises to be lively and provocative. We’ll get the backstory on the crucial factors that went into drafting ABX1 1 and the compromises made by the Governor and Speaker Núñez to reach a consensus on the bill. We’ll also hear insider opinions on the likelihood of the bill’s passage by the Senate.

Key Questions to Be Answered:

With the fate of ABX1 1 in flux, the questions to be answered will likely change as the Forum draws near. But pending passage of ABX1 1 by the Senate, here are a few questions we expect to answer:

• What lessons can be learned about crafting legislation that has support from many of the key stakeholders in the health care arena?
• How realistic are the funding concepts in this bill?
• Can we be assured that the Act isn’t pre-empted by ERISA?
• How do the governor, Núñez, and others anticipate overcoming opposition to the November ballot measure?
• What are the principal selling points of ABX1 1? The principal criticisms?

Panelists:

• Darrell Steinberg, California Senator, 6th District
• Ruth Liu, associate secretary for policy development at the Health and Human Services Agency
• Sumi Sousa, special assistant to Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez
• David Carroll, research director of the California Budget Project
• Greg Lucas, political journalist and satirist