April 23, 2009

State Senator Visits UCSF to Raise Awareness of Universal Health Care Plan

As the lawmaker leading the campaign for universal health care in California, State Senator Mark Leno is constantly working to call attention to the state’s growing health care crisis.

But when he spoke to a group of faculty and students at UCSF on April 17, Leno was addressing individuals who are all too familiar with the current problems – and who will be on the front lines as the system either improves or worsens in the coming years.

Mark Leno

Leno, a Democrat whose 3rd District covers part of San Francisco, was the keynote speaker at UCSF Legislative Day, an event organized by student groups within the UCSF School of Pharmacy to educate the campus community about the latest health care reform efforts being debated in Sacramento.

As health care costs continue to rise and as the current economic downturn leaves many Californians jobless and uninsured, the need for statewide reform is urgent, Leno said.

Approximately 7 million of the state’s residents are currently uninsured, and those who are insured must grapple with premiums that are growing four times faster annually than wages, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit, private foundation that focuses on health care issues.

“At this rate, we’re not going to be able to keep up,” Leno said.

Leno presented his solution: the California Universal Healthcare Act (SB 810), a measure that proposes a single-payer model in which the state controls the payment of health care providers. A government-appointed health care commissioner and a newly created state health care commission would administer the system.

SB 810 would supply all California residents with coverage that includes hospital, medical, surgical, mental health, dental and vision care; prescription drugs and medical equipment; substance abuse recovery programs; and numerous other forms of care. Consumers would be free to choose their own health care providers.

By consolidating the functions of multiple insurance companies into one comprehensive insurance plan, SB 810 would save the state and consumers an estimated $20 billion in its first year by eliminating much of the current clinical and administrative waste, Leno said.

The bill also places emphasis on primary health care to reduce the number of costly emergency room visits by patients who don’t have a regular physician, as well as emphasis on preventive care to try to keep certain health problems from occurring in the first place. It also uses California’s purchasing power to realize savings on prescriptions and medical equipment.

One feature of particular interest to Leno’s UCSF audience was the bill’s requirement that doctors, nurses, hospitals and other care providers would be compensated for all covered services they provide their patients.

Leno’s bill, which is co-authored by 45 other legislators, is nearly identical to two previous measures that had passed through the Legislature but were ultimately vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Though the bill cleared its first hurdle – the State Senate Health Committee – on April 15, Leno said he wasn’t optimistic that it would become reality until a new governor takes office in 2011. And even then, he predicted, the insurance industry will likely attempt to overturn it through a statewide ballot initiative in 2012.

“Basically, we have from today until the ballot date in 2012 to inform Californians about our proposal,” he said. “If a majority of California voters have had enough of the current system, then it’s done; we’ve done it.”

Leno said he hoped members of the UCSF community would join him in his effort to spread the word about health care reform.

“We need all the help we can get, and we’d love to have UCSF as a partner,” he said in an interview after his talk.

UCSF School of Pharmacy Dean Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, said all UCSF students should be well informed when it comes to the legislative process, so they can be effective advocates for their profession and, most important, for their patients.

“We need to focus our interests on the people in the state of California,” she said.

UCSF Legislative Day was organized by the UCSF student chapters of the American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Students of Pharmacy, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, the California Society of Health System Pharmacists, the Latino Association of Pharmacy Students and the National Community Pharmacists Association.

Sponsors of the day’s events included the Chancellor’s Endowment Fund and CVS Pharmacy.

Photo by Justine Ung

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