Peter Harbage

A debate winding to a close in Washington could undermine ambitious health care proposals by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrats in the Legislature that would provide coverage to every uninsured child in California.The State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP, a bipartisan compromise created a decade ago from the embers of the Clinton universal health care plan, expires on Sept. 30.As federal lawmakers prepare to leave this week for a monthlong summer recess, the U.S. Senate… more

Analysts largely agree that if you want everyone to have health insurance, you’re going to have to require it. “Individual mandates” to purchase health insurance would also help insurance markets work better than they do now, since insurers would then find it far easier to attract a balance of high and low risks if all had to buy something. Therefore they would need to do far less medical underwriting (risk evaluation) and targeted marketing, and that would lower the… more

The Legislature, Governor Schwarzenegger and key health care stakeholders are deep in discussions on how to reform California’s broken health care system, including how to reduce the number of uninsured Californians. At this event, New America Foundation Health Policy Program Director Len Nichols and Peter Harbage discussed how to use the principles of seamless coverage and shared responsibility to create a process to ensure all Californians have health coverage, including what we can learn from recent successful experiments in… more

Fear is a powerful force. Families fear the disappearance of affordable health insurance, employers fear international competition while financing high and rising health care costs at home, and providers fear that they will not be able to deliver needed care for lack of funding. In short, just about everyone fears that our system will fall apart. Instead of taking action, many politicians remain fearful of tackling health care reform, since it crushed the Clintons and others before them.

But hope… more

SACRAMENTO, CA (May 21, 2007) -- Insured Californians pay a "hidden tax" for the uninsured, a study released today by the Hoover Institution confirms. However, an analysis by the New America Foundation finds that the Hoover study underestimates the size of this tax. The New America analysis shows that the reasonable range of estimates of the "hidden tax" is between 6% and 11%, but the Hoover Institution's estimate falls well below this range.

In order to provide uncompensated health… more

The report released today by the Hoover Institution confirms that insured families across California pay a "hidden tax" to provide uncompensated health care to the uninsured. The existence of this "hidden tax" is no longer in dispute; what's under debate is its magnitude, which is hard to measure precisely because it is "hidden."

This memo describes the range of estimates that various experts have made, highlights some of the reasons for differing judgments, and then lets the reader… more

The debate over major health care reform in California heats up this week at the state Capitol. Later today, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez unveils a series of major amendments to his health care legislation. Tomorrow, a plan from Senate President Don Perata will be heard in committee. As the program reports, the committee hearings are the first public action after weeks of private negotiations between lawmakers, Governor Schwarzenegger, and interest groups.

To listen to the story, please visit The… more

SACRAMENTO - When Blue Cross sells health insurance to someone who isn't covered at work, the company typically makes a 27 percent profit. By the time salaries and other administrative costs are accounted for, only half the money the company collects in premiums from that person goes for medical care.Those figures may help explain why Blue Cross - the insurance provider for roughly one in four people in the state who have health coverage, and with political heft… more

People who refuse to obtain health insurance could be tracked down by the state or a private contractor, enrolled in a plan and fined until they pay their premiums under one proposal Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is considering as part of his vision for covering all Californians...Schwarzenegger wants to offer public subsidies to the least affluent Californians. But many Democratic legislators, unions and consumer advocates have objected that others will not be able to afford even the bare-bones,… more

On a parallel track from the health debate raging in the legislature, the Little Hoover Commission continued its examination of state’s health landscape on Thursday, calling academics and advocates to talk about health proposals on the table. Since last year, the Little Hoover Commission, which is charged with examining ways to make state government more efficient, began looking at different aspects of the health care system late last year... The three-hour conversation on Thursday was slightly different than… more