New Report: Who Will Remain Uninsured?

A new report released by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research examines the potential for a significant number of Californians to remain uninsured after the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented.

According to the report, titled “After Millions of Californians Gain Health Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act, Who Will Remain Uninsured?,” three to four million people in the state will remain uninsured after the ACA is fully implemented in 2019. The report forecasts that six out of ten uninsured will live in Southern California, and that the vast majority will be low income and Latino or limited-English proficient.

The report also concludes that, given the number and characteristics of the projected remaining uninsured population, there will still be “a great need” for a strong local safety net. It recommends that the state adopt a Basic Health Program model, which would give low-income residents a low-cost option for insurance. CSAC supports the creation of a Basic Health Program (SB 703, Hernandez), and this topic is expected to be in play during the upcoming health care special legislative session. 

The Blue Shield of California Foundation provided the funding for the report. 

CalFresh (Formerly SNAP, Food Stamps)

SB 1391 (Liu) – Support
Chapter No. 491, Statutes of 2012

SB 1391, by Senator Carol Liu, establishes procedures for recovering CalFresh overissuances of more than $125 in accordance with federal law. 

The new procedures, which will be implemented in January of 2014, will apply to current and former CalFresh recipients. They will help streamline the collection process for overissuances resulting from administrative errors, while also keeping the existing regulatory structure for cases of inadvertent household error, intentional program violation, and fraud in place.

Counties and County Welfare Directors supported raising the threshold for recovering CalFresh overissuances to $125 because it will allow our eligibility workers to focus on the more egregious instances while also providing more time for caseload work. 

CSAC, along with the County Welfare Directors Association, supported SB 1391, which the Governor signed on September 23.

Public Health

AB 2246 (Pérez, J.) – Support
Chapter No. 446, Statutes of 2012

AB 2246, by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, requires the new California Healthy Food Financing Initiative Council to establish and maintain a web site that outlines information on the Council’s actions to support access to healthy foods by March 31, 2013. 

The measure builds upon the Speaker’s AB 581 from 2011, which created the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative to promote access to healthy food throughout California. Counties support these efforts to combat “food deserts” within communities – areas with little to no access to quality foods that are both healthy and affordable. 

CSAC supported AB 581 last year and now supports AB 2246. The Governor signed AB 2246 into law on September 22.