Volume 9, Issue 8, May 2005
By Len Feldman
The state Senate Committee on Health has given its approval to a CTA-supported measure that aims to provide health care coverage to all Californians.
SB 840 by Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) would create the California Health Insurance Agency under the control of an elected health insurance commissioner to function as a "single payer" to coordinate health services for residents.
The system set up by the bill would negotiate or set fees for health care services provided through the system and pay claims for those services.
CTA has long backed universal health care, in part to ensure that all California students will have access to health care. Illness is a major obstacle to student learning, teachers point out.
The bill had moved to the Senate Appropriations Committee at press time.