California faces a tough uphill battle to reform its health care delivery system, but the growing need and the mounting pressure to address the issue may sway the legislature and the voters to act, said panelists at a recent gathering on health care.

"We simply cannot tolerate the injustice that leaves millions of our fellow sisters and brothers without the means to pay for health care -- many, for all their life, and most for some part of their lives," said Cardinal Roger Mahony during the 13th annual public policy breakfast held at Shriners Hospital for Children in Los Angeles Sept. 28.

"The uninsured receive too little medical service and receive it too late, and receive poorer care when they are in hospitals. And so we cannot tolerate the injustice of profit over people."

More than 6 million Californians do not have health insurance. In Los Angeles, one in every four people is uninsured, and Latinos, Asian-Pacific-Islanders, African Americans and immigrants are disproportionately represented among the uninsured. Estimates are that 80 percent of the uninsured are in low-income working families.

Guest panelists at the policy breakfast were Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, 50th district; William Cox, president and CEO, Alliance for Catholic Health Care; Jim Keddy, state director, PICO California; and Ruth Liu, associate secretary for health care policy development, California Health and Human Services Agency. The program also included testimonial from Jan Stephens, an underinsured Californian, and was moderated by Maricela Morales, associate executive director of the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy.

"As a people of faith, we believe that the life of every human being created in the image of God is uniquely precious and worthy of being safeguarded," said Cardinal Mahony.

The cardinal highlighted health care principles advocated by the Los Angeles Council of Religious Leaders Health Care Task Force who believe that health care must be universal, continuous, affordable to families, sustainable for society and designed to enhance health and well-being.

System fails those who need it most
In her testimony, Stephens demonstrated that the current system often fails the people who most need health care. A nurse for 17 years, Stephens became disabled when she was struck with the incurable disease Interstitial Cystitis. Expensive prescription medicines have enabled Stephens to sustain her life, but in the last 15 years her premiums with Blue Cross have risen from $282 to $589 a month, and in the past eight and a half years she's paid $38,525 in prescription drug co-pays. Her insurer continues to decrease her benefits and increase her drug co-pays, said Stephens.

"I am a former health care professional, but now my own access to health care is lacking. I have sold household items on Craig's list, used my credit cards and home equity line of credit to attempt to pay for prescription drug and insurance premium costs," said Stephens. "I am now disabled on a fixed income and I can no longer afford to pay for the monumental costs of my medications, insurance premiums, excessive co-pays and deductibles."

Keddy, state director of PICO California, a network of congregation-based and faith-community organizations, said he is concerned that children are losing access to health care today while legislators focus on the big picture solution of the future. Counties are running out of funds to cover children, and some 4,000 young people in Los Angeles are at risk for losing coverage in the next two years.

"We are in a crisis moment at the state and federal level when it comes to health care coverage for kids," said Keddy. "That is why it is imperative that during this special session on health care, the governor and the legislature pass legislation that invests funding right now in children's health care."

Keddy also lamented President Bush's intent to veto legislation passed by Congress to expand children's health insurance. Thousands of children across the country may lose access to health care coverage.

"We need a Good Samaritan moment in the White House," added Keddy, urging voters to contact the president, federal and state legislators and insist on health care policies that stop leaving the sick "by the side of the road."

A universal health care policy is based on the idea that "healthy people pay for sick people just like the Samaritan paid for the fellow injured on the side of the road," said Keddy referring to the parable in the Gospel of Luke. "And this, of course, is all based on the big picture view that the healthy person today is the sick person tomorrow. Tomorrow anyone of us could be on the side of the road, bruised and bleeding and praying that someone will stop and bind our wounds."

William Cox, head of the Alliance for Catholic Health Care representing 58 hospitals, said the Alliance came out early in the health care reform movement advocating that hospitals help to pay a share of costs toward providing universal health care for all Californians.

"We felt that we could not advocate universal coverage," said Cox, "unless we also stood up to the challenge of financing. So we were the first group of hospitals in the state to say we are willing to be taxed as a group of hospitals (the governor's plan would be four percent) as long as that tax is equitably applied and we mitigate high winners and high losers, which is achievable."

Liu, associate secretary for health care policy development for the state's Health and Human Services Agency, said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan for health care reform focuses on universal coverage for all Californians, cost containment in the health care system so it is financially sustainable and puts an emphasis on illness prevention, health and wellness. Insurers would need to spend at least 85 cents of every premium dollar on direct patient care in order to contain exorbitant administrative costs and profits.

Insurers would also be required to sell insurance to anyone who wants it on the individual market. "That means that insurers cannot turn you away because of your health status," said Liu.

Financing for health care reform and universal coverage --- a key sticking point --- would be born by all sectors.

"We need shared responsibility across all sectors," said Liu. "Everyone benefits, so everyone needs to contribute something towards this."

Ultimately voters may be asked to approve a $10-12 billion tax increase to finance health care reform.

A battle for support
Saying he didn't like to be the one to "splash cold water," Assemblyman De La Torre predicted a media "war in November in '08" as various interests groups unleash television commercials aimed at picking apart whatever health care proposals are put before the voters.

"It's going to be a battle for over a year from now," said De La Torre.

The toughest sell, he added, will be persuading voters to provide health care coverage for undocumented adults.

Liu added that providing coverage to undocumented adults "is a very politically charged issue, but the governor has said that he wants universal coverage or access for all individuals."

From a public health standpoint, universal health care coverage more effectively protects the health of the whole community. And from a moral standpoint?

"In our Catholic teaching everybody is a legal human being," said the cardinal. "So we cover everybody."