OneCareNow: Senate Bill 840

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The statewide OneCareNow grass roots campaign is devoted to educating Californians and building massive support for Senate Bill 840, titled "The California Universal Healthcare Act", authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl.

This landmark legislation provides fiscally sound, affordable and comprehensive coverage via universal health insurance for all Californians.

The bill creates one plan and one public trust fund which pays all health care bills and collects all the monies already being spent on health care and insurance plans, which is called a "single payer" system. When enacted, SB 840 replaces all health premiums, taxes, deductibles and co-payments now paid by employers, employees and individuals with one affordable premium paid to the public trust fund to save $8 billion dollars in the first year alone and over $350 billion over a ten year period.

On August 28, 2006 SB 840 passed both houses of the California legislature in a historic vote affirming the right of Californians to quality, affordable health insurance. On September 22, 2006 after taking $4 million from the insurance industry, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed SB 840 on the grounds that "healthcare is not a right." On January 9, 2007 Governor Schwarzenegger unveiled his own healthcare reform proposal to vastly increase insurance coverage by using an individual mandate to force uninsured Californians buy private health insurance yet his proposal fails to establish effective quality or cost controls.

On Feb 27, 2007 Senator Kuehl reintroduced SB 840 to great fanfare in Sacramento. On April 20, 2007 the finance portion of SB 840, SB 1014, was introduced. SB 840 passed the CA Senate on 6/6/07 and is now in the Assembly. A special session will be called by Governor Schwarzenegger to slap together some hasty, ill advised compromise between the Governor's terrible health reform plan and the ineffective AB 8.

Some of SB 840 benefits include:

Security - All California residents are covered for life.

Choice - Everyone has the freedom to choose their doctor or integrated health system such as Kaiser. Delivery of care will continue as now to be private and public.

Comprehensive Benefits - Coverage includes all care prescribed by a patient's health care provider that meets accepted standards of care and practice. Coverage includes hospital, medical, surgical, mental health; dental and vision care; prescription drugs and medical equipments, diagnostic testing, hospice care and more.

High Quality - The bill utilizes proven financial incentives that support the delivery of high quality care, including bonuses for providers working in rural or under-served areas. The plan invests in needed health care infrastructure such as electronic claims and reimbursement systems and statewide medical databases that improve health care quality.

Efficient Administration - Consolidating the hundreds of insurance plans, both private and public, into one comprehensive insurance plan saves the state, patients and providers billions of dollars each year.

Shared Responsibility - Payment of an affordable premium by employers, employees and individuals supports the health care system we all need at some time.

Fair Reimbursement - Providers receive fair and full compensation for all their services.

Cost Controls - Health care costs are controlled by efficient administration, bulk purchase of drugs and durable medical equipment, global health care budgets, coordination of capital expenditures, and linkage to growth of the State Gross Domestic Product.

Coauthors of SB 840 (Kuehl)

Frequently Asked Questions

For ease of use, get our Table of Contents for the bill.

Available for download is a comprehensive Fact Sheet from Senator Kuehl's office. We offer a 10-page Word document about the Features of SB 840.

Also available is a shorter summary, SB 840 Summary.