May 24, 1972 (12 pages)

Five-county physicians offer Medi-Cal plan Physicians in Sacramento and four surrounding countie today announced establishment of the Foundation Community Health Plan, a "pioneering effort" to offer an alternative to the present system of providing health care, Initiated with a major effort to enroll Medi-Cal beneficiaries, the FCHP program is expected to resolve operational _ problems within Medi-Cal currently being experienced by the medical care providers, beneficiaries, and the state (which pays the bills). The FCHP program is being provided to Medi-Cal eligibles under a contract for a prepaid health plan. The state has agreed to pay a monthly premium in advance for all the health care required by Medi-Cal recipients who choose to enroll in the plan. Prepaid health plans for Medi-Cal were authorized by the California State Legislature during the 1971 session. Through the Medical Care Foundation of Sacramento, more than 534 physicians, and alarge number of pharmacists and other health care providers in Sacramento, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, and Yolo counties have agreed to participate inthe program. , The foundation, an organization of the Medical Society of Sacramento County, has signed a one-year contract with the Department of Health Care Services to provide all the usual Medi-Cal benefits (except dental care) without state-regulated limits on services and without cost to the beneficiaries. In return the state will pay premiums for up to 56,000 of the approximately 120,000 Medi-Cal beneficiaries in the five counties who receive welfare cash grants in the categories of aid to families with dependent children, aid to the totally disabled, aid tothe blind, and old age security. The Foundation plan, which has been under development for almost two years, will begin prepaid operation July 1, with enrollment starting next week. Medi-Cal eligibles are to receive notification from the state and information about the plan this week, In order to enroll inthe health plan the Medi-Cal recipient must request that a foundation representative contact him, since state regulations forbid release of the names of welfare recipients. A postcard for this purpose is included in the state mailing and a foundation staff of enrollment representatives will handle the individual contracts. Describing the plan today, Foundation President James J. Schubert, M.D., said his organization's goal was the improvement of the health care delivery system by bringing the entire medical service provider community together to offer the patient care when he needs it, without artificial limitations and without financial burden. The state limitation of two doctor visits and two prescriptions per month and the copayment required from certain patients, which were imposed to control the soaring costs of the Medi-Cal program, have often created problems for both the physician and the patient, he said. Although it is possible for a doctor to get authorization to provide additional treatment for a Medi-Cal recipient, Schubert said, the red tape involved, and the multiplicity of claiming forms and delay in receiving payment have made many physicians leary of accepting new Medi-Cal patients. Some patients have been reportedly reluctant to seek medical care because they lacked the $1 copayment required, he said. In other areas of California the press has reported complaints by Medi-Cal patients that they were unable to find a doctor who would accept them. Although things have not been quite that bad locally, Schubert said the prepaid approach will forestall any such difficulties here, With prepayment to the Foun’ dation, the physician is free to practice medicine as he decides is best for the patient, providing as many medical services and referring the patient to other providers as necessary, he explained. Physicians participating in the plan, Schubert said, by agreement, are at risksincethe Foundation has agreed toprovide Medi-Cal services within the premium for the enrolled members. He said the doctors are willing to take this risk because they believe that by controlling the level of service delivery (such as eliminating the unnecessary and expensive hospitalization), they will be able to provide quality care without state-imposed red tape or restrictions, The Foundation Community Health Plan will be made available to other groups, Schubert said. It will be offered to labor unions, public and private employes and employers, and military dependents. Tired of: High Taxes? Empty Promises? Being Told “Whats Good for You”? Shabby Treatment of The Elderly—Deplorable Condition of Education WE ARE.. For Democratic Assemblyman —KENNEDY— ADV. PAID FOR BY R. J. KENNEDY) Would you vote to Stop all Truck and Freight Train Transportation in California? You certainly wouldn’t if you happen to be-one of the 1,000,000 Californians who work directly in the transportation industry! You’d lose your job within a few days after election. And if you think about it for a minute or two, you realize that no matter what you do for a living, you’d be in serious trouble. Businesses of all kinds would no longer be able to market their products. Farm crops would rot in the fields and on the trees. Unemployment would reach staggering proportions. You wouldn’t be able to provide yourself and your family with the basic necessities of life! Nobody in his right mind would vote “‘yes” on such a stupid, vicious proposal. Yet that’s what you’re being asked to do when you go to the polls on June 6 to vote on Proposition No. 9—the Pollution Initiative. Down in the fine print, Proposition No. 9 contains an innocentsounding provision limiting the content of sulfur in diesel fuel sold for use in internal combustion engines in Californa to .035 per cent. The limit now in effect is .5 per cent—14 times as much! The very small amount of diesel fuel now available that would meet this ridiculous requirement is insufficient even to fill the needs of public transit buses, which run on the lowest sulfur content diesel now in production. : If Proposition No. 9 should pass, the next day the great majority of trucks and diesel-powered freight locomotives would have to stop running — because there would be no “legal” fuel available to operate them! It would take an undetermined period of time—two years? — six years? — nobody knows for sure, before refineries could be adapted at enormous expense to produce diesel fuel in the quantity needed to meet our transportation needs. Knowing the facts, nobody in his right mind would vote for Proposition No. 9. LOSING YOUR JOB WON’T SOLVE POLLUTION! And voting for Proposition No. 9 won't solve pollution. The Technical Advisory Committee of the Air Resources Board of California reports that even if the sulfur content of diesel fuel required by Proposition No. 9 could be achieved, it would reduce sulfur-dioxide emissions in Los Angeles County by only three-tenths of one percent! What a price you’re being asked to pay to accomplish virtually nothing! Vote NO on Proposition No. 9 CALIFORNIANS AGAINST THE POLLUTION INITIATIVE 870 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 1127 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90017 MYRON W. DOORNBOS, President, Southern Council of Conservation Clubs Co-Chairman The Nevada County Nugget Wednesday, May 24, 1972 :

Five-county physicians offer Medi-Cal plan Physicians in Sacramento and four surrounding countie today announced establishment of the Foundation Community Health Plan, a "pioneering effort" to offer an alternative to the present system of providing health care, Initiated with a major effort to enroll Medi-Cal beneficiaries, the FCHP program is expected to resolve operational _ problems within Medi-Cal currently being experienced by the medical care providers, beneficiaries, and the state (which pays the bills). The FCHP program is being provided to Medi-Cal eligibles under a contract for a prepaid health plan. The state has agreed to pay a monthly premium in advance for all the health care required by Medi-Cal recipients who choose to enroll in the plan. Prepaid health plans for Medi-Cal were authorized by the California State Legislature during the 1971 session. Through the Medical Care Foundation of Sacramento, more than 534 physicians, and alarge number of pharmacists and other health care providers in Sacramento, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, and Yolo counties have agreed to participate inthe program. , The foundation, an organization of the Medical Society of Sacramento County, has signed a one-year contract with the Department of Health Care Services to provide all the usual Medi-Cal benefits (except dental care) without state-regulated limits on services and without cost to the beneficiaries. In return the state will pay premiums for up to 56,000 of the approximately 120,000 Medi-Cal beneficiaries in the five counties who receive welfare cash grants in the categories of aid to families with dependent children, aid to the totally disabled, aid tothe blind, and old age security. The Foundation plan, which has been under development for almost two years, will begin prepaid operation July 1, with enrollment starting next week. Medi-Cal eligibles are to receive notification from the state and information about the plan this week, In order to enroll inthe health plan the Medi-Cal recipient must request that a foundation representative contact him, since state regulations forbid release of the names of welfare recipients. A postcard for this purpose is included in the state mailing and a foundation staff of enrollment representatives will handle the individual contracts. Describing the plan today, Foundation President James J. Schubert, M.D., said his organization's goal was the improvement of the health care delivery system by bringing the entire medical service provider community together to offer the patient care when he needs it, without artificial limitations and without financial burden. The state limitation of two doctor visits and two prescriptions per month and the copayment required from certain patients, which were imposed to control the soaring costs of the Medi-Cal program, have often created problems for both the physician and the patient, he said. Although it is possible for a doctor to get authorization to provide additional treatment for a Medi-Cal recipient, Schubert said, the red tape involved, and the multiplicity of claiming forms and delay in receiving

payment have made many physicians leary of accepting new Medi-Cal patients. Some patients have been reportedly reluctant to seek medical care because they lacked the $1 copayment required, he said. In other areas of California the press has reported complaints by Medi-Cal patients that they were unable to find a doctor who would accept them. Although things have not been quite that bad locally, Schubert said the prepaid approach will forestall any such difficulties here, With prepayment to the Foun’ dation, the physician is free to practice medicine as he decides is best for the patient, providing as many medical services and referring the patient to other providers as necessary, he explained. Physicians participating in the plan, Schubert said, by agreement, are at risksincethe Foundation has agreed toprovide Medi-Cal services within the premium for the enrolled members. He said the doctors are willing to take this risk because they believe that by controlling the level of service delivery (such as eliminating the unnecessary and expensive hospitalization), they will be able to provide quality care without state-imposed red tape or restrictions, The Foundation Community Health Plan will be made available to other groups, Schubert said. It will be offered to labor unions, public and private employes and employers, and military dependents. Tired of: High Taxes? Empty Promises? Being Told “Whats Good for You”? Shabby Treatment of The Elderly—Deplorable Condition of Education WE ARE... For Democratic Assemblyman —KENNEDY— ADV. PAID FOR BY R. J. KENNEDY) Would you vote to Stop all Truck and Freight Train Transportation in California? You certainly wouldn’t if you happen to be-one of the 1,000,000 Californians who work directly in the transportation industry! You’d lose your job within a few days after election. And if you think about it for a minute or two, you realize that no matter what you do for a living, you’d be in serious trouble. Businesses of all kinds would no longer be able to market their products. Farm crops would rot in the fields and on the trees. Unemployment would reach staggering proportions. You wouldn’t be able to provide yourself and your family with the basic necessities of life! Nobody in his right mind would vote “‘yes” on such a stupid, vicious proposal. Yet that’s what you’re being asked to do when you go to the polls on June 6 to vote on Proposition No. 9—the Pollution Initiative. Down in the fine print, Proposition No. 9 contains an innocentsounding provision limiting the content of sulfur in diesel fuel sold for use in internal combustion engines in Californa to .035 per cent. The limit now in effect is .5 per cent—14 times as much! The very small amount of diesel fuel now available that would meet this ridiculous requirement is insufficient even to fill the needs of public transit buses, which run on the lowest sulfur content diesel now in production. : If Proposition No. 9 should pass, the next day the great majority of trucks and diesel-powered freight locomotives would have to stop running — because there would be no “legal” fuel available to operate them! It would take an undetermined period of time—two years? — six years? — nobody knows for sure, before refineries could be adapted at enormous expense to produce diesel fuel in the quantity needed to meet our transportation needs. Knowing the facts, nobody in his right mind would vote for Proposition No. 9. LOSING YOUR JOB WON’T SOLVE POLLUTION! And voting for Proposition No. 9 won't solve pollution. The Technical Advisory Committee of the Air Resources Board of California reports that even if the sulfur content of diesel fuel required by Proposition No. 9 could be achieved, it would reduce sulfur-dioxide emissions in Los Angeles County by only three-tenths of one percent! What a price you’re being asked to pay to accomplish virtually nothing! Vote NO on Proposition No. 9 CALIFORNIANS AGAINST THE POLLUTION INITIATIVE 870 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 1127 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90017 MYRON W. DOORNBOS, President, Southern Council of Conservation Clubs Co-Chairman The Nevada County Nugget Wednesday, May 24, 1972 :