Protecting the Health of Our Citizens

By Elaine White Alquist

Although Santa Clara County's economy is improving, the health condition of our most vulnerable citizens is not improving.

As a member of the Assembly Health Committee, I have worked to expand health coverage to millions of uninsured California, while ensuring that managed care enrollees are protected by meaningful quality standards and critical oversight care. I have also fought to focus more attention on women's health issues, like osteoporosis and breast cancer. During my time in the State Assembly, I have authored or supported:

• Family Health Care Rights Act, upholding five basic rights for all HMO consumers in California: the right to choose your doctor; the right to appropriate treatment; the right to information about health care plans; the right to keep your medical records confidential; and the right to emergency care whenever and wherever the need arises.
• California Osteoporosis Prevention and Education Act, increasing statewide treatment and public awareness of osteoporosis, a disfiguring disease affecting over 5 million Californians, most of whom are women.
• Mandatory Stay for Mastectomy Patients Act, requiring health plans to cover a minimum 48 hours of inpatient care for a woman undergoing a mastectomy.
• Healthy Families Program, extending vital health insurance to 600,000 uninsured children in California.
• Clinical Research Fairness Act, ensuring that women of all ages and ethnicities are included as subjects in state-funded clinical research projects.
• Consumer Choice Act, permitting HMO consumers to receive services directly from an OB-GYN without a referral from a primary care physician.

• Requiring the Health and Welfare Agency to develop a reorganization plan for aging and longer-term care programs in California.
• Providing hands-on training to certified nursing aides for delivering care to nursing home patients with Alzheimer's Disease or related dementia.
• Requiring the Department of Health Services to post statewide nursing home information on the Internet.
• Requiring that Section 8 housing residents, many of whom are 65 years of age or older, are provided at least nine month's notice before eviction.
• Creating a statewide Adult Protective Services infrastructure, including performance standards and a mandated 24-hour response time.