Insurance Companies Cancelling Health Insurance of Sick Patients Written on September 16, 2009, by admin.
With President Obama’s speech to Congress last night outlining the details of his overhaul of healthcare in the United States, one interesting point popped up – the fact that Obama would guarantee that insurers could not reject people because of preexisting conditions. Health insurance companies are increasingly citing the failure to disclose preexisting conditions as [...]
Coverage at the county level… Written on August 20, 2009, by admin.
Plenty has changed since 2006, the latest year that the uninsured of California was counted by the U.S. Census. But even then, many months before the current recession hit, the percentage of people living without health insurance in our state was startling.
This week, the Sacramento Bee laid out the statistics, finding quite a disparity between [...]
California Offers Lessons on Insurance Exchanges Written on August 7, 2009, by admin.
As Congress debates creating insurance “exchanges” as part of a health-care overhaul, the failure of a similar effort in California may offer important insights, former participants in the program say.
From 1993 to 2006, small businesses in California could buy health insurance through an exchange run initially by the government, and later by a nonprofit group.
The [...]
Grim Health Picture For California’s Low-income Kids Written on August 5, 2009, by admin.
There are some positives – the number of overweight children in California declined slightly and preschool enrollment increased. Yet the overall health picture, especially for California’s low-income kids, is grim according to a new research brief “Trends in the Health of Young Children in California” by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and sponsored [...]
California farmers, ranchers struggle over health care costs Written on August 5, 2009, by admin.
California’s farmers and ranchers are struggling with health care bills that, in some instances, threaten the viability of their family businesses, according to a report Wednesday by the Access Project and funded by the California Endowment.
The report finds that while almost all farm and ranch operators have health insurance, one in five says that California [...]
Sudden health-care changes unlikely in California Written on August 5, 2009, by admin.
Given all Barack Obama said about change during the presidential race, he might be expected to quickly revamp America’s health-care system, which virtually everyone calls a mess.
Local people who have pushed for health-care reform say, however, they don’t expect major changes in a hurry. But they do foresee the new president attending to the [...]
1.3 million Cal kids lack health insurance Written on August 5, 2009, by admin.
The nation has 8.6 million children who lack public or private health insurance and 1.3 million of them are in California, Families USA, a Washington-based advocate for expanded health access, says in a report based on new census data.
California, the nation’s most populous state, is just behind Texas in the numbered of medically uninsured children, [...]
Why is single-payer health reform not viable? Written on August 5, 2009, by admin.
When it comes to health care reform in America, there is a relatively simple solution that will cover everyone’s basic health care, control costs and save businesses, most people and the country a lot of money.
It’s called a single-payer health plan, where the government collects taxes to finance national health insurance. The government, which is [...]
Public Health Insurance Would Be Too Good and We’d Like It Too Much Written on August 5, 2009, by admin.
A common thread is emerging in the right wing response to healthcare reform. Its opponents aren’t claiming that public healthcare will be bad. Rather, they are terrified that the new system will be so good that no citizen would buy expensive private insurance–or vote for politicians who wanted to take public insurance away.
The Obama team [...]
Health-care crisis looms in California Written on August 5, 2009, by admin.
To quote hospital administrator Jim Raggio, “Last year, California hospitals provided $9.7 billion in uncompensated care, including $3.5 billion in Medicare shortfalls, and $2.7 billion in losses from the MediCal program.”
Thus, nearly 64 percent of uncompensated care comes from those insured by government, not the uninsured. Physicians also fare badly under said government and private [...]