Advocates for Working People Say CNA-Sponsored Bill Would Have Excluded Thousands of Children and Threatened County Health Systems

LOS ANGELES – The Service Employees International Union, California’s largest health care union, and several health care advocacy groups made progress Wednesday to reform a flawed bill that would have negative effects on the public health care safety net and exclude children from health care coverage.

The bill, SB 1459 (Yee), is sponsored by the California Nurses Association and proposed cutting public hospitals out of efforts to provide coverage to adults without children at home, instead favoring private insurance companies –  despite the CNA’s well-publicized opposition to private coverage plans in last year’s healthcare reform effort. The bill also would have excluded many uninsured California children by leaving in place federal citizenship and residency requirements.

“This bill had serious flaws,” said Annelle Grajeda, president of SEIU California State Council, “and it excluded so many children. Furthermore, the bill as proposed would have seriously undermined public health facilities, and that raised a real red flag for us. I’m glad we were able to come in and help clean up the problems that its sponsor, CNA, overlooked.”

On Wednesday, State Senators Elaine Alquist (San Jose), Gil Cedillo (Los Angeles), Darrell Steinberg  (Sacramento) and Sheila Kuehl (Santa Monica) demanded as a condition of their votes for SB1459 that it be amended to meet SEIU objections and provide the following protections:

-Ensure that important county services, including eligibility determination, are not jeopardized and thousands of jobs lost.
-Maintain resources for critical county health services.
-Provide health coverage for all children, regardless of immigration status.
-Reconcile the Medi-Cal/Healthy Families streamlining and simplification provisions with those in other measures.

“The devil is always in the details, and if SEIU had not remained vigilant this bill could have negatively impacted thousands of children and adults in California, as well as undermining the public safety net institutions we all rely on.” said Grajeda.

SEIU has been working with teams of advocates for years to ensure all Californians, especially children, have access to health care and that safety net health care systems, including public hospitals, emergency rooms and trauma centers, are adequately funded.