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Monday August 17,
2015, Sacramento, California ___ Senate Republicans want to protect
24 million Californians without raising taxes on their healthcare insurance.
In July 2015, two healthcare bills were introduced in response to the special
session. These two measures were introduced to help low-income and disabled
Californians gain better access to doctors, nurses and developmental
services. Together, Senate Bill 2X 4
(Nielsen) and Senate Bill 2X 11 (Stone) would require new revenues to
increase reimbursement rates for developmental disability services, and to
restore the remaining 10 percent reductions to Medi-Cal reimbursement rates.
"The Levine Bill is a $1
billion plus tax increase on the health insurance of hard working families
and small businesses," said Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff (R-San
Dimas).
"Health insurance is already
expensive. We do not need to make health insurance even more expensive in our
effort to properly fund programs for Developmentally Disabled or to provide
adequate reimbursement rates for California doctors."
"Republicans share the goal of
protecting our state's most vulnerable and we want to work with our Democrat
colleagues to accomplish that. However, we still have to ask why in the
recent budget that the majority party chose to give money to convicted drug felons,
but could not find the money to pay for developmental services. Citizens want
an efficient government. Before asking people to pay more in taxes, they
should first have an accounting of how their money is being spent,"
said Sen. Mike Morrell (R-Rancho Cucamonga), Vice-Chair of the
Public Health and Developmental Services Committee for the extraordinary
session on health care.
Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) said, "In
the upcoming fiscal year, the state will likely receive an unexpected $10
billion. With the extra money, developmental services can be delivered to
those in need and Medi-Cal rates can be increased without raising taxes for
24 million Californians. It would be a shame if the Governor and the
Democrat-controlled Legislature ignores the most vulnerable in our
communities again."
"My fellow Senate Republican
colleagues and I want to fight the injustice," said Sen. Jeff Stone (R-Riverside
County). "Democrats say budgets are about moral
obligations. So how did the disabled fall to the bottom of the list of
priorities during the budget process? They were left out of a budget
that had more revenue come in than was expected and registered record
spending. Who was more important than the poorest and most vulnerable
Californians?"
Senate Republicans have introduced two bills in response to the special
session on healthcare. Neither would raise taxes on California families.
Specifically, SB 2X 4 (Nielsen) would require any new General Fund revenues
available over 2015 budget levels to be dedicated to increase reimbursement
rates for developmental disability services by up to 10 percent to ensure
access; and SB 2X 11 (Stone) would redirect monies from the closure of state
developmental centers to pay for community services for the developmentally
disabled.
For press inquiries or questions, please contact Jacqui Nguyen, press secretary
for the Senate Republican Caucus
at (916) 651-4029.
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