BILL NUMBER:  AB 1461
  VETOED	DATE: 09/30/2012




To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 1461 without my signature.

I realize how important it is to align our individual health
insurance market rules with the federal Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act. This bill got almost all the way there.
Unfortunately, the measure failed to adequately link our state
reforms to the federal law.

The Affordable Care Act requires insurers to provide health coverage
to all individuals regardless of their health status. This mandate on
insurers is balanced by the mandate on individuals to obtain health
coverage, with federal subsidies available to help lower-income
people purchase it.

Without the strong foundation that federal law provides, a
state-level mandate on insurers alone could encourage healthy people
to wait until they got sick or injured before purchasing coverage.
This would lead to skyrocketing premiums, making coverage more
unaffordable.

I look forward to working with the Legislature to correct this
problem and adopt the remaining essential provisions of this bill.

Sincerely,



Edmund G. Brown Jr.