A. Keynote Address - Assemblymember Wilma Chan

"You must set up an early meeting with Gov. Schwarzenegger's administration to educate him about the impact of potential reductions in the health budget."
"Given term limits and high turnover among lawmakers, you must take the time and have the patience to educate them on your issues." Wilma Chan.

Assemblymember Chan addressed the Summit on the health care implications of California's ongoing budget crisis, the recall of Gray Davis and the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Governor. She noted that, although we spend 17% of our gross domestic product on health care, we have a system in crisis, with runaway costs, insurance rates increasing at double-digit rates, and rapidly rising prescription drug costs. We face severe physician and nurse shortages, especially in poor and rural communities. Furthermore, we face an increasing number of uninsured, who are billed at rates higher than the charges billed to insurance companies for the care of the insured. This has contributed to unpaid health care bills as second only to divorce for persons going bankrupt in America.

Assemblymember Chan noted that California's extremely low Medi-Cal reimbursement rates compounds the problem of delivering services to underserved communities. Although the rates were increased during the years of budget surpluses, the current massive budget deficit has put increased pressure on reimbursement rates. In the last legislative session, physician groups were barely able to hold the rate reduction to 5% as opposed to the proposed 15% cut. Future legislative sessions are likely to attempt to reduce rates even further.

Assemblymember Chan also discussed other issues that are important to physicians. She stated that she was attempting to make the California Assembly more physician friendly, especially by addressing MICRA tort reform and the runaway costs of the workers compensation system. She pointed to the need for major structural reform to the State's overall fiscal system. The legacy of Proposition 13 and the requirement that 2/3 of the Legislature must agree to pass a budget have contributed to partisan gridlock that has blocked long term solutions to state fiscal problems.

Notwithstanding the crisis in which California finds itself, Assemblymember Chan took the opportunity to celebrate the passage of SB 2, will substantially increase the number of Californians with health insurance, and the defeat of Proposition 54, which would have banned the collection, use, and dissemination of race and ethnic identifiers by California government entities.

She invited increased participation by EPOs in legislative deliberations. She also suggested that representatives of the Network of Ethnic Physician Organizations set up an early meeting with Governor Schwarzenegger to communicate their priorities and explain the devastating impact of impending budget cuts.