Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
California Keeping Health Law Anyway 'Probably Out Of The Realm Of Possibility'
Millions of Californians have gained health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Now the future of that federal聽law 鈥 and medical coverage for those people 聽-- is in doubt. President-elect Donald Trump said repeatedly during his campaign that one of his first acts would be to 鈥渞epeal and replace鈥 the law known as Obamacare. The Times spoke to experts about whether it would be possible for the state to keep operating its Obamacare exchange called Covered California, where consumers shop for subsidized health insurance, if the law was repealed. (Petersen, 11/11)
California led the way with Obamacare, signing up more people for health insurance聽than any other state.聽Now with a possibility that President-elect Donald Trump will repeal the law, as he has promised, the stakes are higher here than anywhere else.聽鈥淲e鈥檝e basically cut the number of uninsured in a little bit more than half, which is enormous progress,鈥 said Dr. Gerald Kominski, head of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. But California鈥檚 huge gains also mean that if the Affordable Care Act is undone, 鈥渨e have the most to lose.鈥 (Karlamangla, 11/13)
California went all in on Obamacare and now faces the prospect of President-elect Donald Trump and Congress dismantling key parts of that historic expansion in coverage. Under the Affordable Care Act, the state鈥檚 insurance exchange has enrolled more than 1.4 million people and California鈥檚 Medi-Cal program added about 3.5 million lower-income residents to the rolls. (11/14)