Click to access PDF%20QRGHealthInsurersEnrollmentSept2016.pdf
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CALIFORNIA HEALTH CARE ALMANAC QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE: REGIONAL MARKETS
California’s Uninsured: As Coverage Grows, Millions Go Without
Click to access PDF%20CaliforniaUninsuredDec2016.pdf
Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014, the uninsured rate in California dropped by nearly half, from 16% in 2013 to 9% in 2015. However, 2.9 million Californians remained uninsured.
California’s Uninsured: As Coverage Grows, Millions Go Without provides a look at the uninsured two years after full implementation of the ACA. There could be big changes in health insurance coverage ahead with the election of President Donald Trump.
Key findings include:
- The drop in the uninsured rate was mainly due to a seven percentage point increase in individually purchased insurance coupled with a five percentage point increase in Medi-Cal enrollment.
- One in three of California’s uninsured had annual incomes of less than $25,000. At this income level, people are potentially eligible for Medi-Cal.
- Of the state’s remaining uninsured, one in four were age 25 to 34, one in three were noncitizens, and more than half were Latino.
- 62% of the uninsured were employed. Of the 1.8 million uninsured workers, 44% worked in firms with fewer than 50 employees.
- Fewer Californians cited “lack of affordability” as the main reason for going without health insurance in 2015 compared to 2014.
Cartoon – Please Pray for
Cartoon – How can we Rebuild Trust
Price Urges Medicare Reforms, Breaking With Trump
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, said Tuesday he’d favor reforms to Medicare that would ensure the program’s viability.
“The Medicare trustees … have told all of us that Medicare, in a very short period of time, less than 10 years, is going to be out of the kind of resources that will allow us as a society to keep the promise to beneficiaries,” Price said Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee. “We will not be able to provide the services to Medicare patients at that time — which is very, very close — if nothing is done.”
Price supports turning Medicare into a premium support system, giving eligible beneficiaries a set amount to buy coverage. GOP leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan have also backed this idea in the past.
Trump, on the other hand, vowed during his campaign not to cut Medicare and Social Security, pointing out that this position set him apart from other GOP candidates during the primary. Democrats are now trying to hold him to that promise.
Price Vows ‘Access to Coverage’ Under Health Executive Order
https://morningconsult.com/2017/01/24/hhs-nominee-vows-access-to-coverage-under-aca-executive-order/
President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the nation’s top health official would not promise every American would get to keep their coverage under an executive order signed last week.
“What I commit to the American people is to keep patients at the center of health care, and what that means to me is making certain that every single American has access to affordable health coverage,” Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) told Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) when asked if he would commit to no one losing coverage.
The distinction between “access” to health insurance and “health coverage” appears to be a growing division between members of Congress and Trump, who vowed insurance for everyone in interviews ahead of his inauguration.
Heritage VP: Obamacare Repeal Efforts Going in ‘Wrong Direction’
https://morningconsult.com/2017/01/26/heritage-vp-obamacare-repeal-efforts-going-wrong-direction/
The Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative think-tank, is pushing Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act as quickly as possible without waiting for a replacement.
The GOP’s self-imposed Jan. 27 deadline for legislation that would repeal Obamacare is slipping by and plans for repeal are “murkier than ever” and headed in the “wrong direction” wrote James Wallner, the Heritage Foundation’s vice president for research, in the Daily Signal, a website created by Heritage.
“Given this, President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans should reiterate their commitment to the full repeal of Obamacare,” Wallner wrote. “And they need to get to work by taking the first step in the process, which should be passing legislation to repeal Obamacare as soon as possible.”
Cartoon – Are You giving me the Silent Treatment?
Cartoon – Signs of Recovery
