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Cielo Woggn
HCA-255
October 11, 2020
Professor Barri Seif
Regulatory and Policy Impact Essay
While there are many health policies that are being considered as a legislation act in my
State, I decided to go with The California Act. The Healthy California Act, also known as
SB562, will establish the Healthy California program to provide thorough single-payer universal
health care coverage and a cost containment mechanism for health care for the benefit of all state
residents. “The bill would ensure that a wide variety of medical benefits and other programs be
provided by the program and would include health care benefits and requirements of other
current federal and state provisions, including, though not limited to, the State Children's Health
Insurance Program (CHIP), Medi-Cal, ancillary health care or social services provided by
regional centers…” (SB 562, N.D.). It will require the board to obtain all required waivers,
approvals, and agreements to allow the Safe California program to pay several current federal
health care subsidies, which would then assume responsibility for all previously paying benefits
and services with those financial resources.
Just like any other act, SB562 comes with situations that can be considered both an
advantage and a disadvantage. Coming from the perspective of the patient, family, or community,
an advantage of SB562 is how this act represents and exceeds the existing federal guarantees
under federal legislation, and enshrines the fact that healthcare is a right, not only a privilege for
those with the means and resources. This lets it develop an autonomous board that is not
dependent on any particular branch of government or political support. A board that would
[Author]
, 2
represent the diversity of CA and specifies certain demographic and occupation minimums to
ensure that this is reflected in the choices (Healthy California Act Analysis, 2017). Like many
other programs, it comes with services that are able to be provided under the act. The list of
services covered is more extensive than that of Medicare for All, and also contains certain non-
standard safety services. While some may induce protests (vaccines, treatment of drug abuse),
existing law is already dealing with this, so it should not be a hard obstacle to overcome. A
disadvantage of this act is that the need for federal exemptions is understandable, but it's
reluctant to consider the feasibility of this going forward, considering the current political
environment. Although there is an exception notice specifying if SB562 should be rejected and
cover as much of the Federal programs as possible, an already complicated situation seems to
encourage more complexity (Healthy California Act Analysis, 2017). The fact that all political
appointees come from the Board and Committee, although California currently has a Democratic
majority, there is still plenty of room outside their reach for choices skewed by favoritism,
nepotism, and the healthcare industry. This does not mean this is going to be a problem, but
undoubtedly demonstrates the possible misuse of such a framework. From the textbook, a
disadvantage is that “Extensive use of private insurers, who often have high administrative costs
relative to public insurance programs, as well as the use of multiple insures instead of a single-
payer system, result in high administrative cost in the United States” (Wilensky, Tietelbaum,
2020, Page 91). Meaning this could be a way to unbalance our economy. The role of the Bill,
when talking about how it can reduce the cost for health insurers, would be very important. This
bill will allow for health care providers to participate in the program, mandate participants to
coordinate care, provide for reimbursement for health care services and coordination of care, and
define program requirements. It would also state the Legislature's intent to pass legislation that
[Author]
Cielo Woggn
HCA-255
October 11, 2020
Professor Barri Seif
Regulatory and Policy Impact Essay
While there are many health policies that are being considered as a legislation act in my
State, I decided to go with The California Act. The Healthy California Act, also known as
SB562, will establish the Healthy California program to provide thorough single-payer universal
health care coverage and a cost containment mechanism for health care for the benefit of all state
residents. “The bill would ensure that a wide variety of medical benefits and other programs be
provided by the program and would include health care benefits and requirements of other
current federal and state provisions, including, though not limited to, the State Children's Health
Insurance Program (CHIP), Medi-Cal, ancillary health care or social services provided by
regional centers…” (SB 562, N.D.). It will require the board to obtain all required waivers,
approvals, and agreements to allow the Safe California program to pay several current federal
health care subsidies, which would then assume responsibility for all previously paying benefits
and services with those financial resources.
Just like any other act, SB562 comes with situations that can be considered both an
advantage and a disadvantage. Coming from the perspective of the patient, family, or community,
an advantage of SB562 is how this act represents and exceeds the existing federal guarantees
under federal legislation, and enshrines the fact that healthcare is a right, not only a privilege for
those with the means and resources. This lets it develop an autonomous board that is not
dependent on any particular branch of government or political support. A board that would
[Author]
, 2
represent the diversity of CA and specifies certain demographic and occupation minimums to
ensure that this is reflected in the choices (Healthy California Act Analysis, 2017). Like many
other programs, it comes with services that are able to be provided under the act. The list of
services covered is more extensive than that of Medicare for All, and also contains certain non-
standard safety services. While some may induce protests (vaccines, treatment of drug abuse),
existing law is already dealing with this, so it should not be a hard obstacle to overcome. A
disadvantage of this act is that the need for federal exemptions is understandable, but it's
reluctant to consider the feasibility of this going forward, considering the current political
environment. Although there is an exception notice specifying if SB562 should be rejected and
cover as much of the Federal programs as possible, an already complicated situation seems to
encourage more complexity (Healthy California Act Analysis, 2017). The fact that all political
appointees come from the Board and Committee, although California currently has a Democratic
majority, there is still plenty of room outside their reach for choices skewed by favoritism,
nepotism, and the healthcare industry. This does not mean this is going to be a problem, but
undoubtedly demonstrates the possible misuse of such a framework. From the textbook, a
disadvantage is that “Extensive use of private insurers, who often have high administrative costs
relative to public insurance programs, as well as the use of multiple insures instead of a single-
payer system, result in high administrative cost in the United States” (Wilensky, Tietelbaum,
2020, Page 91). Meaning this could be a way to unbalance our economy. The role of the Bill,
when talking about how it can reduce the cost for health insurers, would be very important. This
bill will allow for health care providers to participate in the program, mandate participants to
coordinate care, provide for reimbursement for health care services and coordination of care, and
define program requirements. It would also state the Legislature's intent to pass legislation that
[Author]
