With the Governor’s final actions on bills last week, health consumer advocates applauded a major year in health reform, where California continued its leadership on health care access, affordability, and equity. Californians will see both short and long-term benefits from the bills and budget items adopted by Governor Newsom and the state legislature this year […]
New #CABudget Deal Extends Major Help to Afford Health Care to Millions of Californians
The Governor and Legislature announced a final deal on the California state budget late yesterday, including some major investments in a variety of health and human services. We greatly appreciate that this state budget deal includes crucial commitments to improve health care access and affordability for Californians, providing real relief to many immediately, with the […]
California Health Advocates Praise Federal Federal COVID-19 Relief Bill on ACA Affordability Assistance
California consumer and health advocates hailed the current COVID-19 relief package that passed the Senate this weekend for its historic investments in health care coverage and accessibility and urged its final passage in the House of Representatives. The package includes significant funding for vaccine distribution, direct income support to families, and aid to state and […]
CoveredCA Again Extends Enrollment Deadline, Giving Californians More Time to Sign-Up for Health Coverage
Covered California has announced an extension of the special enrollment deadline to the end of August. Due to the continued surge in COVID-19 cases throughout the state, Covered California will give consumers additional time to sign up for health coverage during this pandemic—especially for those who lost not just jobs, and income, but also employer-based […]
California Expands Emergency COVID-19 Treatment Coverage
California continues to take urgent and necessary steps to fight the public health emergency created by COVID-19. Late last week, California announced new measures to provide emergency coverage for COVID-19 testing and treatment for the uninsured and some underinsured. Under this new “presumptive eligibility” guidance by the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), uninsured and […]
COVID-19 and the ACA’s 10th Anniversary
On March 23, 2020, we mark the 10th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Especially at this moment, we are grateful for the improvements in our health system that were sorely needed and now help at at time like this. In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, California’s health system would be much less […]
California Before 10 Years of the ACA
Especially given all that is going on in our health system, it is time to stop re-litigating a health law signed ten years ago, especially one that has shown so much proven success. California is proof of how much our health system has transformed. Prior to the Affordable Care Act, California was the national poster […]
2018 Census Data Shows CA Uninsured Rate Holds Steady Despite National Increase
After years of decline after the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), new 2018 Census data released today shows the first national increase in the uninsured rate since 2013, with the rate going up from 7.9% to 8.5%, or by 1.9 million Americans to 27.5 million. By contrast, California’s uninsured rate has held steady at 7.2%, lower than […]
California Coalition & Legislators Unveil Care4All California Plan to Cut Uninsured Rate & Make Coverage More Affordable
Care4All California, a campaign of more than 70 consumer, community, labor, progressive and health care organizations, unveiled a plan made up of a package of bills and budget items that together will move California closer than ever to universal coverage by eliminating many remaining coverage gaps, improving quality and equity, and reducing prices for health […]
RECAP: California Leads on Getting to Universal Health Care
Last week was a big week for health care in California, so here is a rundown of what happened and what it means! On Monday, Gavin Newsom was sworn in as the 40th Governor of California, and quickly announced his first actions on health care. Then on Thursday, Governor Newsom unveiled a state budget that put those actions into […]