SB 480: Time to End the ‘Band-Aid Approach’

      Although the 21 health care reform bills signed by Gov. Gray Davis last month are "laudable", "they have little or no effect on the increase in the uninsured population in [California], and particularly in San Diego County," argues Karen Gill, the health care director for the League of Women Voters of California. Writing in today's San Diego Union-Tribune, she points to Census Bureau reports showing that 22% of Californians lack insurance, including 22% of San Diego County residents. The state's uninsured population is increasing by 50,000 per month, she adds. But SB 480, awaiting Davis' signature, could help that problem. The bill calls for the California Health and Human Services Agency to study and report on options for providing health care coverage for all state residents. (Gill is a consumer representative on the California Universal Health Insurance Coverage Study.) She asserts that San Diego County citizens have a "huge stake in this bill," as the county has the third-highest proportion of uninsured in the state. Gill concludes by imploring Davis to sign the bill: "Well-informed health care consumers get comprehensive check-ups. Similarly, the governor should support this comprehensive exam of our state's health care system -- the Band-Aid approach to health care reform is no longer a viable option for our constantly increasing uninsured population" (10/7).