A California Budget Project report released today predicted that the California Health Benefit Exchange, designed to insure small businesses employees and individuals without employer coverage could enroll as many as 8 million Californians when it launches in 2014, Because most Californians -- 55 percent -- receive health care coverage through their employers, they are unlikely to be affected by a requirement that all Americans maintain a minimum level of coverage.
Through subsidies for low- and middle-income families, increased Medi-Cal eligibility and employer incentives, ACA could reduce the number of uninsured Californians by two-thirds, or 4.7 million individuals, the independent fiscal and policy analysis group concluded.
Tangible Benefits in First Year
One year after it was signed into law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has provided tangible benefits to millions of Californians. The ACA has started to close the gap in prescription drug coverage for seniors and it offers up to 300,000 Californians who have been denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions an opportunity to sign up for affordable coverage through a temporary insurance pool. Young adults can be covered by their parents' plan up to age 26.
"As California works to swiftly and effectively implement a significant restructuring of our health care system, it is important that policy makers and insurance consumers have the basic facts own what the law means for our state," Budget Project executive director Jean Ross said in a news release. "The ACA is already providing clear benefits to California's seniors, young adults and individual consumers."
Leave a comment