California health insurance

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status report:
California state health insurance exchange

What progress is being made in setting up its federally-mandated California state health insurance exchange?"

About state health insurance exchanges

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How did California officials vote on health reform?

H.R.2: Repealing the Health Care Bill

#14

Date of Vote: 1/19/2011 Status: House passed 245-189, 1 not voting

HOUSE|SENATE

1/19/2011--Passed House amended. Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, effective as of its enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Act. Repeals the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of the Act's enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by the Act's health care provisions. [more]

Yes (19)

• Brian Bilbray
• Mary Bono Mack
• Ken Calvert
• John Campbell
• Jeff Denham
• David Dreier
• Elton Gallegly
• Walter Herger
• Duncan Hunter
• Darrell Issa
• Jerry Lewis
• Daniel Lungren
• Kevin McCarthy
• Tom McClintock
• Howard McKeon
• Gary Miller
• Devin Nunes

• Dana Rohrabacher
• Edward Royce

Our
Pick

No (34)

• Joe Baca
• Karen Bass
• Xavier Becerra
• Howard Berman
• Lois Capps
• Dennis Cardoza
• Judy Chu
• Jim Costa
• Susan Davis
• Anna Eshoo
• Sam Farr
• Bob Filner
• John Garamendi
• Jane Harman
• Michael Honda
• Barbara Lee
• Zoe Lofgren

• Doris Matsui
• Jerry McNerney
• George Miller
• Grace Napolitano
• Nancy Pelosi
• Laura Richardson
• Lucille Roybal-Allard
• Linda Sanchez
• Loretta Sanchez
• Adam Schiff
• Brad Sherman
• Jackie Speier
• Fortney Stark
• C. Thompson
• Maxine Waters
• Henry Waxman
• Lynn Woolsey

how healthy is living in California?

California fell three spots from its #23 ranking in 2009, and is now ranked as the 26th healthiest state to live in, according to the 2010 America's Health Rankings® by the United Health Foundation.

The good news:

• California was cited in 2010 for its low rate of occupational fatalities, high availability of early prenatal care (that is, within the first trimester of pregnancy), and its low rate of smokers in the population – all three categories in which California is ranked as one of the highest in the nation.
• The latter category has also seen a decrease since 2000, from 18.7 percent of the overall population to 12.8 percent.
• California also saw decreases in violent crime (from 552 offenses to 472 offenses per 100,000 of the population over the past five years), preventable hospitalizations (from 60.7 discharges to 57 discharges per 1,000 individuals enrolled in Medicare over the past year), and deaths due to cardiovascular disease (from 334.6 deaths to 270 deaths per 100,000 population over the past ten years).

The bad news:

• California has the highest level of air pollution in the nation.
• It also struggles with a large percentage of uninsured population, with 19.3 percent of the overall population lacking health insurance.
• In addition, it has a high rate of infectious disease, with 20 cases recorded per 100,000 members of the overall population.

California's best and worst category rankings:

• Prevalence of smoking – 2nd
• Occupational fatalities – 2nd
• Early prenatal care – 3rd
• Infant mortality – 3rd
• Uninsured population – 45th
• Air pollution – 50th

more details

• See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on California.
• Trust for America's Health ia another source for key California health quality findings. In addition, 2010's federal health reform, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), included the creation of a prevention fund to provide more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation, and the site has a report on how it impacts California here.

get local health results

State snapshot too large? Get county-by-county health rankings for California, from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Population Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin.

does California have a health insurance high risk pool?

California Major Risk Medical Insurance Program
Toll-free 1-800-289-6574 or (916) 324-4695

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Starting in 2010, California started offering health care insurance coverage to residents through the federally established temporary high-risk pool program. To find out more about California's participation, click here.

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state to state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the pool to keep it in the black. In the best cases, they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Read more about risk pools here.

how to find health insurance in California

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in California and all other states.
• The Foundation for Health Coverage Education's guide on how to find health insurance in California.
• Materiales En Español – Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown's California health insurance guide

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations help fund its research. Learn more about the Health Policy Institute.

Review Georgetown's guide for California.

Health insurance plan report cards for California

The National Committee for Quality Assurance is a private, non-profit organization that, among other things, provides health care plan report cards for consumers.

Go here to search for California health insurance plan report cards.

California government health insurance resources

California Department of Health Care Services and California Department of Public Health – A 2007 reorganization has split into two the official government Web sites for departments responsible for health care services for Californians.

Medicare information from California State Department of Aging – State government resources for Californians needing help with Medicare and other government health insurance programs on federal, state and local levels.

Office of Multicultural Health, California State Department of Health Services – The state agency which tries to reduce inequality in health status, information and resources on multicultural health.

Consumer Information from the California State Department of Insurance – Health insurance topics and information geared specially for consumers.

California State Department of Insurance – Deals with issues of individual health insurance in California, as well as other types of insurance.

health care advocacy groups in California

Health Access California – Health Access California is a non-profit organization dedicated to achieving quality, affordable health care for all Californians. For more than 15 years, Health Access has played a significant role in leading the movement for health care reform in California. Health Access has promoted universal health care proposals and advocated for specific incremental reforms that promise to provide immediate health care services to California's most vulnerable populations.

California Association of Health Plans – The Association promotes affordable health care for California consumers through legislative advocacy, informational communications and collaboration with other organizations.

California HealthCare Foundation – The foundation is an independent philanthropy committed to improving California's health care delivery and financing systems and to ensure that all Californians have access to affordable, quality health care.

Health Care for All–California – HCA is a nonprofit grassroots organization working for high quality, universal, single-payer health care.

Vote Health Coalition – Vote Health's mission is to win accessible, high-quality health care for everyone, regardless of legal status or ability to pay.