HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 10151991 - 2.2 IN THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, STATE OF CALIFORNIA
In the Matter of Recommending )
Legislation to Control the )
High Costs of Medical Care ) RESOLUTION NO 91/685
)
WHEREAS, in 1990,Americans spent more than$660 billion on health care--more
than 12 percent of the United States' Gross National Product (GNP);
WHEREAS, Americans spend an average of $2,500 per person on medical care --
double that of most other western nations;
WHEREAS, health care spending is expected to reach $1 trillion by 1996 and as
much as $1.6 trillion by the year 2000 -- 15 percent of the GNP --which will place America
at an increasing competitive disadvantage in the international market place;
WHEREAS, the rate of inflation in health care in 1990 was 10.5 percent, marking
the third consecutive year of double digit inflation;
WHEREAS, U.S. spending on health care increased 128 percent during the 1980s
and increased more than ten-fold over the last 25 years, during which time the percent of
GNP devoted to medical care doubled;
WHEREAS, many experts believe that medical cost increases are the result of
economic inflation, increasing numbers of elderly citizens who require more intensive
medical services, professional liability costs and the practice of defensive medicine,
increasing numbers of physicians -- particularly those practicing in technical subspecialties,
expensive new technologies and heightened societal and/or personal expectations;
WHEREAS, the rapid rate of increase of health-care costs as well as increases in
administrative costs have resulted in large increases in insurance premiums in recent years,
which averaged 18 percent in 1989;
WHEREAS,health insurance is becoming unaffordable and unavailable to increasing
numbers of Americans leaving as many as 37 million individuals with no insurance and
millions more with inadequate insurance; '
WHEREAS,nearly 6 million Californians,including one fourth of Californians under
the age of 65 -- the nation's fifth worst rate -- have no health insurance;
WHEREAS, access to health care is highly dependent on having health insurance,
and individuals who do not have insurance generally do not seek primary or preventive care
relying instead on expensive emergency care, thereby further driving up medical costs;
WHEREAS,each dollar spent on prenatal care for low-income women reduces total
expenditures for direct medical care of low-birthweight infants by as much as $3.40 during
the first year of life, yet thousands of women receive virtually no prenatal care each year;
WHEREAS, major reforms are needed in the U.S. health care system to provide
universal access to basic health care services and control costs;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors expresses
its grave concern about the high rate of inflation in medical services and recommends that
state and federal lawmakers urgently enact legislation to improve access to health insurance
and health care services and to include stringent cost containment measures in any such
health care reform bill.
RESOLUTION NO. 91/685
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Health Services Director is
INSTRUCTED to request city councils and school boards in Contra Costa
County to support this resolution.
PASSED by unanimous vote of the Board members on this day October 15 , 1991 .
I hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of a resolution entered on the
minutes of said Board of Supervisors on the date aforesaid.
Witness my hand and the Seal
of the Board of Supervisors
affixed this 15th Lav of October 1991 .
PEM BATCHELOR, County
Administrator and Clerk of the
Board of Supervisors
/
By G
Depu y Clerk
f
cc: _ County Administrator
Health Services Director
Senator Alan Cranston
Senator John Seymour
Congressman George Miller
Senator Daniel Boatwright
Assemblyman William Baker
Assemblyman Robert Campbell
Assemblyman Phillip Isenberg