California Speaks

California Speaks was a statewide deliberative forum on health care reform that took place on August 11, 2007 in eight counties in California: Humboldt, Sacramento, Alameda (Oakland), Fresno, San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego. Nearly 3,500 people representing all segments of the population were randomly recruited to participate in this day-long discussion of health care reform proposals that are before the California legislature.

Background
Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California proposed comprehensive health insurance reform for California on January 9, 2007 that would lead to nearly universal health insurance coverage in the state. The plan involved a complex set of requirements that employers provide health insurance or pay into a state insurance pool, that health care providers and insurers pay a new fee, and that all individuals be legally required to carry health insurance. The state would use the new fees to expand free or low-cost health insurance to those with low incomes, would allow higher income individuals to purchase “catastrophic” insurance, and would require insurance companies to sell insurance to any applicant (called guaranteed issue) By mid-year, two different Democratic proposals that overlapped the Governor’s proposal had merged into Assembly Bill 8 (AB8) and were seen as the most likely health insurance expansion bill to be passed and signed by California’s governor in 2007. Another bill with substantial support in the legislature proposed a single payor system, SB840. It was similar to a bill that had passed the legislature in a previous session and been vetoed by the Governor.

The forum
California Speaks was designed as a non-partisan discussion about the major health insurance reforms in the state. Using neutral, accessible materials, a cross section of Californians learned about the different options and voted during the forum about what the state should do. The options focussed on issues concerning AB8 and, to a lesser degree, SB840. The product of the discussions will be presented to the Governor and legislative leadership to inform state legislation that is currently being negotiated in Sacramento.

The results
Participants identified four key values to guide health care reform at the start of the forum: Health care should be affordable by all, everyone should have access, greed (profit) should not be part of the system, and wellness/prevention should be a priority. There was general support for the AB8/Governor’s range of proposals, with a number of conditions. Employer mandates were supported but most participants also wanted to assure that part-time and other employees were covered. Individual mandates were supported as long as there was an adequate standard for quality of care and other guarantees. Over 80% of this cross-section of Californians expressed a willingness to “share the responsibility” for paying for expanded health insurance.

The impact
The results and interpretation were presented to representatives of the California Legislature and Governor on August 23, 2007. The intent of the process is that the opinions of this large (3,500 person) group of average Californians from around the state, who spent a full day discussing the issues, would inform the California health care reform debate.