Friday was a key deadline for bills in the statehouse, and one that legislators want to continue to work on is an effort to expand access to Medigap, the supplemental health insurance available to Medicare recipients.
Sacramento Snapshot
Editor’s note: Sacramento Snapshot is a weekly series during the legislative session detailing what Orange County’s representatives in the Assembly and Senate are working on — from committee work to bill passages and more.
From Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat who represents communities in southern Orange County, the bill would create an annual open enrollment period for Medigap and allow insurers to set premiums based on someone’s age when they enrolled in a Medigap plan.
The idea is to open up access and expand protections for seniors with pre-existing conditions who wish to buy the supplemental insurance.
According to Blakespear’s office, California does not open up additional Medigap enrollment periods for those who did not purchase the supplemental insurance within the initial six-month eligibility window. That means insurers can later outright deny Medigap coverage or charge higher premiums, according to a bill fact sheet.
SB 242 passed out of the Senate Health Committee last week, 9-2, along party lines.
Sens. Bob Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera, and Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, are co-authors.
“Seniors should not be shut out of Medigap for pre-existing medical conditions, something that is not allowed in the rest of the health insurance marketplace,” Blakespear said. “It’s imperative that seniors have access to affordable health care, and SB 242 ensures they get it.”
Additionally, the bill would end the exclusion of patients under 65 years old with end-stage renal disease from purchasing a Medigap plan.
Sign up for Down Ballot, our Southern California politics email newsletter. Subscribe here.The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, California Health Advocates, ALS Association and Scripps Health support the bill.
Opposition, meanwhile, includes the California Association of Health Plans, the Association of California Life and Health Insurance Companies and the National Association of Insurers and Financial Advisors.
The National Association of Insurers and Financial Advisors and California Agents and Health Insurance Professionals, in the bill’s analysis, said other states with similar enrollment requirements saw a decrease in competition. The opposing groups argued that the bill could ultimately increase premium costs for seniors.
Friday, May 2, was the final day for policy committees to hear and refer bills that have a fiscal impact.
In other news
• No, it’s not déjà vu. Assembly Democrats, Republicans and the governor were all at odds last week about a trafficking bill — reminiscent of a very public fight in 2023 over a bill that made child trafficking a felony.
This time it was a bill from Assemblymember Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, that wanted to expand a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year that allowed those who bought and solicited sex from minors 15 years old and younger to be charged with a felony. Krell, an attorney who has worked to combat sex trafficking in her career, wanted to include 16- and 17-year-olds in the law, increasing penalties for those who seek to harm older minors.
The effort divided Democrats, with those opposed worried about unintended consequences. Parents could weaponize the bill, they said, against relationships they may disapprove of, including interracial or LGBTQ+ couplings. And there are other laws, they said, that could levy a felony charge on someone who engages in sex with a minor.
But it drew strong support from Republicans and prominent Democrats, including Newsom, first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and Christine Pelosi, the daughter of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Despite that support — and efforts from Republicans on the Assembly floor — legislative Democrats ultimately rejected the bill. Instead, they agreed to an amendment that said they plan to “adopt the strongest laws to protect 16- and 17-year-old victims.”
As for Orange County’s legislators, every Democrat voted for the amended bill — with Krell’s name stripped off of it — while no Republican did.
“What form of society and civil society is that acceptable to solicit sex with a minor and spend three days in jail,” Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, said from the floor.
What bills are Orange County’s legislators pushing this year? Check out our bill tracker here.• A bill that would require drug and alcohol programs to provide additional reports and information when there is a resident death saw unanimous support in the Assembly Health Committee last week.
From Dixon, AB 1356 acknowledges that these facilities are already required to provide the Department of Health Care Services with initial information of a resident’s death. But Dixon said many facilities “are not providing full details on their report of incidents.”
But the bill takes those responsibilities a bit further, requiring them to submit additional information not originally reported within 60 days of the incident. And facilities would also have to report how they are implementing new actions if deficiencies are identified after a death.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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