09/19/2005
CONTACT: Martyn Hopper or Michael Shaw, (916) 448-9904
or Tony Malandra, (415) 664-9685
State Insurance Commission to consider greater regulatory actions
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Less than a week after the release of the latest Kaiser Family Foundation study showing small businesses continuing to be a drag on the number of medically insured, a hearing in San Francisco tomorrow, hosted by two government entities responsible for health-care policy in California, will debate the efficacy of consumer-directed health care over that of greater regulatory involvement by the state.
The hearing will be conducted by state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and the California Department of Managed Health Care. While the 2005 Annual Employer Health Benefits Survey of the Kaiser Family Foundation found the percentage of firms offering health care unchanged from the previous year, the alarming trend over the past five years from 69 percent in 2000 to 60 percent in 2005 is mainly being driven by small firms (3 to 199 workers), the percentage of which has dropped from 68 to 59 over the same time span. The percentage of the smallest companies (three to nine workers) offering health care was 49 percent, according to the study.
Since 1986, the cost of providing health care for their employees has ranked as the No. 1 concern of small-business owners across America in surveys conducted of its members by the nation's largest small-business organization, the National Federation of Independent Business. Last year, it remained No. 1, only this time by its widest margin ever over the second of 75 concerns measured by NFIB.
Michael Shaw, assistant state director for the 37,000-member California arm of NFIB will testify at tomorrow's hearing at around 1 p.m. Shaw will encourage the panel to broaden the use of Health Savings Accounts. Under federal law, any person with a high-deductible insurance plan can contribute $2,600 annually in pre-tax dollars to an HSA. The amount is $5,150 per family. HSAs give employers who do not already offer health plans an incentive to do so when it can be combined with a high-deductible plan. Many states have conformed their tax structures to the federal government's for HSAs, but an attempt to do so in California, Senate Bill 173, was defeated in the legislature.
State Insurance Commission John Garamendi
and the California Dept. of Managed Health Care
Consumer-directed health-care hearing
Tuesday, Sept. 20
Room 408
City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco
