Sacramento, CA – Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones issued a statement after yesterday's hearing on AB 52 (Feuer) by the Senate Health Committee, in which he stated: “AB 52 is more than rate regulation. It represents hope for hard-working Californians and their families that they can not only sign up for health care, but also afford to keep it.”

The Commissioner’s statement misrepresents the effect of AB 52. No provision of his bill, authored by Assemblymember Feuer, changes any procedures for eligibility or enrollment standards for any health insurance or plan coverage sold in California. As for coverage affordability, in testimony before the Senate Health Committee yesterday, Senator Strickland, Vice-Chair, directed questions to the author of the bill over testimony from witnesses who claimed the bill would reduce health insurance rates:

Sen. Strickland: “Thank you Mr. Chair. As we’re done with the proponents, I just wanted to address either the Commissioner or the Assemblyman. We have heard a lot of testimony from your supporters and the proponents that the rates will go down if this measure is enacted. How much will the rates go down?

Assm. Feuer: I think it’s impossible to predict exactly what will happen to any individual rate. We can look to other states’ experience though, and as was testified to, in New York, and Colorado, and I think Oregon too, about half the rates that were proposed were accepted; about half of them were modified because they were deemed to be excessive. Our experience here might mirror that – it’s hard to know. We also know over the past number of months the Commissioner has been confronted with an array of increases, many of which have unilaterally been withdrawn once it’s been revealed either they weren’t actuarially sound or because of other reasons. So it’s very hard to know for sure.

Strickland: So, for example, you say New York, how much did there rates go down?

Feuer: …you know what, Senator, let me get back to you. If I recall correctly, the amount, I think, is in the teens for rates that were rejected as being excessive, but I will get you tomorrow the specific information about the percentage by which rates declined there. I can do that for other states as well.

Strickland: Thank you.”

(http://www.calchannel.com/channel/viewvideo/2782 ,starting at the 24 minute mark)

The fact is AB 52 does nothing about the increasing use of health care services resulting from new treatments, population aging, lifestyle changes, and growth in diagnostic testing and defensive medicine. AB 52 does nothing about the increasing cost of actual health care services resulting from reduced competition between providers, cost shifts from the public Medi-Cal and Medicare programs and the uninsured to private payers, and new, more expensive medical technologies. These are the underlying cost-drivers of health care expense, and AB 52 does nothing to reduce them. AB 52 does nothing to make it easier to “sign up for health care” and make it more affordable than it is now.

Tony Strickland represents California Senate District 19, which includes portions of Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties.