Section 12700.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) That many Californians, do not have employer-sponsored group health coverage and are unable to secure adequate health coverage for themselves and their dependents because of preexisting medical conditions, and a number of employer sponsored groups have difficulty obtaining or maintaining their health coverage because some members of the group either have or are viewed as being at risk for having high medical costs.

(b) That, even where uninsured persons with preexisting conditions are able to secure coverage, the cost of coverage is prohibitively high or is secured only by waiving coverage for the preexisting conditions for which they are most likely to need care.

(c) That adverse selection precludes private health plans regulated by the State of California from enrolling medically uninsurable persons in the face of the escalating health care costs, and a highly competitive market.

(d) That, left to face the cost of major medical care without health coverage, all but the extremely affluent uninsured persons must ultimately look to publicly funded programs including Medi-Cal or MISP in the event of severe illness or injury.

(e) That a prudent means of making major medical coverage available to individuals presently unable to purchase it, is to subsidize their purchase of private health coverage from participating health plans.

(f) That a prudent means of making major medical coverage available to groups presently unable to purchase or having difficulty maintaining major medical coverage is to facilitate purchase of private health coverage from participating health plans.

(Amended by Stats. 1992, Ch. 1128, Sec. 11. Effective January 1, 1993. Operative July 1, 1993, by Sec. 15 of Ch. 1128.)