ABX1 8 (Villines) 11/8/07 Comments by Len Doberne, MD
There are a series of reasonable inducements to increase healthcare coverage to California residents, by offering tax deductability to individuals and employers comparable to the tax benefits obtained with the most generous employer based healthcare plans. In addition, there is additional access to health savings accounts and high deductable plans, allowing individuals to direct their healthcare expenditures better, hopefully inducing people to think of economy and quality in their choices. There is an inducement for employers who did not offer healthcare benefits to begin offering such benefits. I cannot tell how effective the plan would be overall, but everything in the plan seems to be a step in the right direction.
In addition, there is increased payment for Medi-Cal services, and a tax credit to physicians to providing uncompensated care to poverty level patients.
It does not seem that this bill will do enough to make healthcare more affordable to a large enough number of people in California to make it widely supported. I suspect that the author would appreciate constructive suggestions to include in revisions of the bill.
-Len Doberne, MD