BILL NUMBER: SB 20	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hernandez

                        DECEMBER 3, 2012

   An act relating to health care coverage.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 20, as introduced, Hernandez. Health care coverage: basic
health program.
   Existing law, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act (PPACA), requires each state to, by January 1, 2014, establish an
American Health Benefit Exchange that makes available qualified
health plans to qualified individuals and small employers. PPACA also
authorizes the establishment of a basic health program under which a
state may, if specified criteria are met, enter into contracts to
offer one or more standard health plans providing a minimum level of
essential health benefits to eligible individuals instead of offering
those individuals coverage through an exchange.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would establish a basic health program in California
as described in PPACA.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would establish the basic health program described
in Section 1331 of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 18051).