BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 298
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Date of Hearing: May 1, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, RETIREMENT AND SOCIAL
SECURITY
Rob Bonta, Chair
AB 298 (Pan) - As Amended: April 17, 2013
SUBJECT : Rural Health Care Equity Program.
SUMMARY : Reestablishes, until January 1, 2015, the Rural
Health Care Equity Program (RHCEP) and extends the benefit
provided by that program to all state employees and retired
annuitants living in rural areas, as specified. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Reestablishes the RHCEP until January 1, 2015.
2)Expands the RHCEP benefits to all employees and annuitants
living in rural areas.
3)Deletes the provision relating to the disposition of funds
remaining in the program after the date the program is
terminated.
EXISTING LAW :
SB 514 (Chesbro), Chapter 743, Statutes of 1999, established the
RHCEP which was administered by the California Department of
Human Resources (CalHR) to provide subsidies and reimbursements
for health care costs incurred by state employees and annuitants
that live in rural areas of California. A "rural area" is
defined as an area without a CalPERS Board-approved health
maintenance organization (HMO) plan.
SB 1168 (Chesbro), Chapter 642, Statutes of 2006, extended the
operation of the RHCEP to January 1, 2012, and specified that
the program is only operative to the extent funding is provided
through the annual budget act or another statute.
AB 1389 (Budget Committee), Chapter 751, Statutes of 2008,
eliminated the RHCEP payments to state annuitants.
ABX4 12 (Evans), Chapter 12, Statutes of 2009-2010, eliminated
the RHCEP for all active state employees with the exception of
Bargaining Unit (BU) 5 (Highway Patrol) employees who were
AB 298
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allowed to continue to have access to this program, pursuant to
their active bargaining agreement, until the expiration of that
agreement on July 2, 2010.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Many state workers that
live in rural areas of California or that live outside of the
state do not have access to an HMO and are forced to pay higher
costs for healthcare using a Preferred Provider Organization
(PPO). These costs are a barrier to working families and their
ability to access affordable healthcare often times causing
these families to put off necessary health procedures due to
cost and leading to greater health problems in the future."
"The RHCEP was created by SB 514 (Chesbro), Chapter 743,
Statutes of 1999, to provide subsidies that offset the higher
health care costs paid by individuals in these rural areas. The
subsidy is equal to the difference between the lowest cost PPO
premium and the weighted-average HMO premium. Additionally, the
state will reimburse for an employee or dependent's
out-of-pocket expenses, such as deductibles and co-insurance
costs."
This bill is similar to AB 2608 (Chesbro) of 2010, which would
have extended the RHCEP until January 1, 2012. This bill died
in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
SEIU Local 1000 (Sponsor)
Association of California State Supervisors
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916)
319-3957
AB 298
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