The Mercury News
Jan. 4, 2003
Garamendi returning, faces industry challenges
By Deborah Lohse
John Garamendi, elected in November to the insurance commissioner job he held a decade ago, has a plateful of problems awaiting him as he takes office Monday in Sacramento.
Most of all, Garamendi — a Democrat widely viewed as a future gubernatorial candidate — plans to pound the pulpit for “universal health insurance,” which he envisions as coverage that every Californian will have whether they are employed or not.
Garamendi plans to continue his decades-long quest for “universal health care” similar to the national systems of Canada or other nations.
“I am going to drive health care,” he said — partly because health care costs affect several other types of insurance and partly because he considers it his would-be legacy as a politician.
“I am a statewide elected official. I have a platform. This is a fundamental problem in society, and I’m going to go after it.”
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/4873290.htm
Comment: In his last term as California’s insurance commissioner, John Garamendi was the individual responsible for requiring Blue Cross to release about $3 billion in past tax benefits at the time of their conversion to for-profit WellPoint. These funds provided the endowments for the California HealthCare Foundation and the California Endowment, and established the precedent that for-profit conversions must include provisions that accrued tax benefits are to be used for the public good.
Keep your eye on California. With a state legislature that is dedicated to universal coverage and an insurance commissioner who is a dedicated activist, passionate about reform, California just might do it.
Beth Capell, Ph.D. corrects Don’s flawed memory:
A few corrections:
John Garamendi was not responsible for the Blue Cross conversion: that was the responsibility of the Dept. of Corporations Commissioner Gary Mendoza, who Garamendi defeated in November.
The Department of Insurance regulates health insurance for fewer than a million Californians by best estimates. This is the Department now headed by Garamendi.
Instead, more than 20 million Californians have their care regulated by the Department of Managed Health Care, created as a result of the efforts of CaPA, Health Access and others in the long fight for the HMO Patient Bill of Rights.
Nonetheless, I have just come from listening to Garamendi’s inaugural address in which John took particular care to focus on the importance of health coverage for all and having a single 24 hour source of coverage for all Californians.
Beth Capell, Ph.D.
Don’s comment: The refund that John Garamendi supervised was a $1.3 billion refund mandated by California’s Prop. 103 (part of which was overturned since the courts ruled that insurers were entitled to reasonable profits).
Sorry. I’m human.
For the LWV biography of John Garamendi:
http://www.smartvoter.org/2002/11/05/ca/state/vote/garamendi_j/bio.html