BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2308|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2308
Author: Roger Hernández (D), et al.
Amended: 6/28/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 8-0, 6/22/16
AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Huff
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 56-24, 6/2/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Health care coverage: information to students
SOURCE: California Coverage and Health Initiatives
DIGEST: This bill requires the California State University
(CSU) and the California Community Colleges (CCC's) to provide
students with information about health care coverage options.
This bill also extends the sunset date by two years to January
1, 2021, for K-12 school districts to provide parents with this
information on school enrollment forms.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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1)Establishes the California Health Benefit Exchange, known as
Covered California, as an independent state entity to serve as
the marketplace for Californians to purchase health care
coverage and as a way to meet the personal responsibility
requirements of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act.
2)Authorizes school districts and county offices of education to
incorporate into the School Lunch Program application packet
or notification of eligibility that the student may qualify
for free or reduced-cost health coverage under the California
Health Benefit Exchange. (Education Code § 49557.2)
This bill:
1)Extends, from January 1, 2019 to January 1, 2021, the sunset
date in existing law that requires public schools to provide
parents or legal guardians with information insurance
affordability programs, as specified.
2)Establishes the California Health Care Coverage Act of 2016.
3)Requires, commencing with the 2017-18 academic year, each
campus of the CSU and CCC to provide students contact
information about health care coverage options including how
to apply for Medi-Cal and Covered California. To satisfy this
requirement, authorizes CSU and CCC campuses to:
a) Develop an informational item or amend an existing
enrollment form or Internet Web site to provide students
information on insurance affordability programs. Provides
that a campus may use information provided in the standard
template developed by the California Department of
Education, as specified.
b) Include a fact sheet with its enrollment forms
explaining basic information about affordable health care
coverage options for students.
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4)Prohibits a CSU or CCC campus from discriminating against a
student who does not have health care coverage or use any
information related to a student's health care coverage or
interest in learning about health care coverage in any manner
that would bring harm to the student.
5)Establishes a sunset date for the CSU and CCC requirements of
January 1, 2021.
Comments
Need for the bill. According to the author's office, "the
federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)
expanded health care coverage options and made approximately
seven million Californians newly eligible for coverage as of
January 1, 2014. Of those nearly 67% qualify for Medi-Cal.
There is great opportunity to enroll the eligible; however,
notable barriers exist for populations to enroll in health care
coverage including lack of awareness about the programs,
difficult application or re-enrollment processes, and stigmas
associated with enrolling into low-income health insurance and
other public programs. While the Affordable Care Act has
dramatically reduced the number of uninsured Californians, a
significant number of the population has been left behind in the
absence of proactive and practical solutions."
By utilizing schools and universities, this bill is intended to
provide essential information and educate students and families
about eligibility and available health coverage programs.
Related efforts. AB 2706 (Hernandez, Chapter 827, Statutes of
2014) was enacted to require K-12 school districts and charter
schools to provide health care coverage information to students
and their families at the time of school enrollment. This bill
creates a similar form of outreach for CSU and CCC in which the
campuses can provide students with information on health care
coverage options through enrollment forms, fact sheets attached
to the enrollment forms, or items posted on Internet Web sites.
The California Department of Education's Web site also contains
information about the ALL IN for Health Campaign for schools,
early learning programs, and after school programs. This
information includes advice that schools can provide information
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to families about health coverage options.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Unknown costs for additional enrollment in Medi-Cal (General
Fund and federal funds). Giving CSU and CCC students and
continuing to provide K-12 parents information about the
availability of Medi-Cal coverage may encourage some consumers
to opt to apply for Medi-Cal, as intended. The extent to
which this will occur is unknown. This effect may be small,
given the significant public awareness of access to coverage
through Covered California and Medi-Cal following the
implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the imposition
of an individual mandate to have health care coverage.
However, even a very small overall increase in Medi-Cal
enrollment would have a significant fiscal impact since the
cost to provide coverage to an adult in Medi-Cal ranges from
about $1,200 per year to $6,000 per year (General Fund and
federal funds).
CSU anticipates one-time costs of $50,000 General Fund in
staff time to comply with this bill.
The CCCs anticipate minor costs for campuses to comply with
this bill.
Continuation of likely minor, reimbursable state mandate costs
for schools to provide information about health care coverage
options and enrollment assistance on school enrollment forms.
Without this bill, this requirement would sunset after the
2017-18 school year. (Proposition 98)
SUPPORT: (Verified8/12/16)
California Coverage and Health Initiatives (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Black Health Network
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California Children's Health Coverage Coalition
California Faculty Association
California Health+ Advocates
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Primary Care Association
California School Employees Association
California State Student Association
California Teachers Association
Children's Partnership
Community Health Councils
Health Access California
National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/12/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 56-24, 6/2/16
AYES: Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu,
Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,
Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez,
Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Lopez, Low, McCarty,
Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber,
Williams, Wood, Rendon
NOES: Achadjian, Bigelow, Brough, Chang, Chávez, Dahle, Beth
Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Jones, Linder,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen,
Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
Prepared by:Lenin DelCastillo / ED. / (916) 651-4105
8/15/16 20:22:18
**** END ****
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