While California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's sweeping plan to mandate universal health coverage in the nation's largest state has met criticism in some quarters (mainly for imposing a "fee" – really a tax – on cash-strapped hospitals and doctors), the health insurance industry seems to be cautiously embracing it because it could accomplish something that the industry has wanted to do for years: Sell insurance to the uninsured. As Vanessa Fuhrmans wrote in the Wall Street Journal last week: "If successful, the California proposal could expand the industry's market by four million to five million currently uninsured Californians — something health plans have been unable to do despite heavily marketing new products to some segments, such as relatively healthy but uninsured twentysomethings. Because of its size, California could galvanize universal health coverage initiatives in other states, where many in and around health care see such reform experiments playing out."
"If we don't seize the opportunity here, it will get worse still," Bruce Bodaken, chief executive of Blue Shield of California, told the Journal. "There's no question [the plan] broadens the opportunity for the industry to provide not only the basic products but others we think can benefit consumers and employers."
It will be interesting to see how the plan affects the brokers that ultimately sell the insurance. While many are waiting to read the fine print of the governor's plan, the California Assn. of Health Underwriters, a trade group of brokers, issued a plan last week for "shared responsibility."
"The brokers would start with enrolling everyone who is eligible in government aid programs, such as Medi-Cal and the state's high-risk pool," the Los Angeles Times reported today. "The brokers also would like to see more leeway for health plans to design less expensive coverage options for people who can't afford what's available now."