State Legislature Pushing Multiple Bills To Make Covered California More Accessible And Affordable
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— The state legislature is wrapping up its summer business next week and a consumer group is pushing hard for passage of four bills dealing with Covered California.
The Affordable Care Act still has some affordability problems, but these bills deal with key health-consumer protections.
Consumer advocacy coalition Health Access of California hopes the four bills would address Covered California insurance cost and access problems.
"California has lead in expanding coverage under the Affordable Care Act, but we have more to do to make sure the coverage is meaningful for all consumers once enrolled," said Health Access' Executive Director Anthony Wright.
Wright said the bills would reduce the burden of prescription co-pays, enable the insured to use out of network providers at network prices under certain circumstances and put more responsibility on insurance companies to tracks consumer costs.
Nicole Evans of the California Association of Health Plans said that wouldn't happen.
"Although it might seem counter-intuitive; in reality these bills would actually drive up the cost of care and that's one of our chief concerns," she said.
The deadline to approve these bills is next Friday. At this point it's uncertain whether any of them will make it to the Governor's desk.