Covered California: ObamaCare is Here

ObamaCare is here!  Yea or Nay!  As we near the implementation date of October 1 for the Affordable Care Act we are being bombarded daily with the good news and the bad news.  Which is true?   I tend to believe, like Democrat Senator, Max Baucus, that it is going to be a financial and health care disaster.  

If we look at RomneyCare in Massachusetts (ObamaCare is supposedly modeled after RomneyCare), the State has the highest insurance rates in the country and the longest wait to see a doctor; it also, it’s advocates say, has provided 98% of the State’s residents with insurance coverage.

California is the key state in the implementation of ObamaCare and is one of only 17 States that are building its own exchange (the Federal government is building the exchanges in the other states).  California’s program is called Covered California. 

The Contra Costa Times recently reported the State has been given $900+million by the Obama Administration so far to implement the program.   However, it is difficult, if not impossible, to track the State’s expenditures to implement the program.  Why?  In 2010 the State passed legislation allowing California to keep all contracts secret for one year and all rates secret forever.  It also exempts from the California Public Records Act any negotiations, minutes of meetings, Board meetings records, training, or communications of any type.  Transparentcy appears to be a problem with all Democrat Administrations.

Last week (June 19^th) the Governor signed legislation authorizing the implementation of three Exchange Call Centers and the hiring of hundreds of County workers to help sell insurance programs through the exchanges.  There will be a 250 person exchange in Concord and two others elsewhere in the State.

The Governor also authorized distributing $37 million to forty-eight community based organization to perform “outreach” duties throughout California.

According to Covered California’s website the program is targeting 5.3 million Californians who are currently uninsured or purchase health insure on their own.  Of the 5.3 million who are uninsured, 2.6 million will qualify for federal subsidies.  Another 1.4 million will qualify for Medical (Medicaid).

Where do those Californians who qualify for a subsidy live?

780,000 live in Los Angeles County

390,000 live in the Bay area; 130,000 live in the Sacramento Area

200,000 are in Orange County; 190,000 in San Diego; 180,000 in Riverside; 160,000 in San Bernardino

185,000 are in the San Joaquin Valley; 100,000 in Northern California and Sierra Counties.

And, according to Covered California, what is the ethnic makeup of those eligible for Subsidies:

1,190,000 Latinos

870,000 Whites

370,000 Asian

100,000 African American

70,000 “Other”

The health plans that have agreed to participate in the Exchanges are:

Alameda Alliance for Health                                        L.A. Care Health Plan

Anthem Blue Cross of California                                 Molina HealthCare

Blue Shield of California                                              Valley Health Care

Chinese Community Health Plan                                  Ventura County Health Care Plan

Contra Costa Health Plan                                            Western Health Advantage

Health Net                                                                   Kaiser Permanente

Maybe more important than which health plans ARE participating is who is NOT participating.  Aetna, United HealthCare, and Cigna, three of the largest health plans in the State, are not participating in the Exchanges, narrowing the choice of plans and doctors participants will have when choosing care.