Health Care. Consumer Protection. Taxes on Corporate Restructuring.

HEALTH CARE. CONSUMER PROTECTION. TAXES ON CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Prohibits health care businesses from: discouraging health care professionals from informing patients/advocating for treatment; offering incentives for withholding care; refusing services recommended by licensed caregiver without examination by business\u27s own professional; increasing charges without filing required statement; conditioning coverage on arbitration agreement. Requires health care businesses to: make tax returns public; establish criteria written by licensed health professionals for denying payment for care; establish staffing standards for health care facilities. Authorizes public/private enforcement actions. Establishes nonprofit public corporation for consumer advocacy. Assesses taxes for certain corporate structure changes. Summary of Legislative Analyst\u27s Estimate of Net State and Local Government Fiscal Impact: Increased revenues from new taxes on health care businesses--potentially in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually--to fund a corresponding amount of expenditures for specified health care services. Additional state and local costs for existing health care programs and benefits, probably in the range of tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars annually, depending on several factors. Reduced state General Fund revenue of up to tens of millions of dollars annually because the new taxes would reduce businesses\u27 taxable income