In response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health reform proposal, the Los Angeles County Medical Association launched a Health Insurance Task Force to join the debate regarding expanded healthcare access in California.

Chaired by Paul Kirz, MD, the task force consists of more than 10 LACMA physicians including President Ralph Di Libero, MD, Thomas Horowitz, DO, Thomas LaGrelius, MD, Ilena Blicker, MD, and Stephanie Booth, MD. The first meeting was held Feb. 7 at LACMA headquarters.

"The purpose of the committee is to ensure that any health plan put forth before the Legislature preserves the physician-patient relationship and protects patient access to care," says Thomas Horowitz, DO, a Los Angeles family practitioner and chair of LACMA's Political Action Committee. "The real goal is to bring ideas and concepts to the political table that will lead us to a functional health system, rather than just a system."

Instead of adding to the long list of current health proposals, the task force focused on developing basic principles that would increase coverage: 1) providing access to healthcare; 2) setting up funding mechanisms for healthcare; 3) protecting the physician-patient relationship; 4) implementing health insurance mandates; and 5) making healthcare cost-effective.

Committee members stated that access to healthcare must be timely for all Californians. Healthcare access should also include the availability of appropriate specialists. Most of all, they agreed that each patient must have a primary care medical home. In order to preserve the safety net, emergency rooms should be used for medical emergencies only.