http://www.chcf.org/articles/2017/01/when-seeing-doctor

With repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the horizon, and no replacement plan in sight, millions of Californians are at risk of losing their coverage. Approximately 5 million Californians are currently covered under the ACA. The state’s uninsured rate, which hit a historic low under the ACA, could start to rise again depending on what happens in Washington in the coming weeks and months.
It’s worth remembering the multiple barriers that people without insurance face in our health care system. I am reminded of some key findings from a 2015 survey of California physicians that the University of California, San Francisco, released last fall with support from the California Health Care Foundation.
The survey asked, among other questions, if physicians were accepting new patients who had various types of insurance (private, Medicare, or Medi-Cal) or who were uninsured. The survey also asked physicians if any of their existing patients were uninsured.
As the slides below show, the uninsured face the hardest time getting accepted into a physician’s practice. Only 38% of all California physicians said they accepted new uninsured patients in 2015; only 55% said they had any uninsured patients. The sample of physicians includes emergency department (ED) doctors who are legally required to see all persons who come to an ED, regardless of whether they have insurance.









