Fwd: qotd: Who will remain uninsured?

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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: qotd: Who will remain uninsured?
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2012 11:44:48 -0700
From: Don McCanne <don@mccanne.org>
To: Quote-of-the-Day <quote-of-the-day@mccanne.org>



UC Berkeley Labor Center
September 2012
After Millions of Californians Gain Health Coverage Under the Affordable
Care Act, Who Will Remain Uninsured?
By Laurel Lucia, Ken Jacobs, Miranda Dietz, Dave Graham-Squire, Nadereh
Pourat, and Dylan H. Roby

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is predicted to
expand coverage to millions of Californians by 2019. This increase in
coverage will primarily result from the expansion of Medi-Cal and the
availability of subsidized coverage in the California Health Benefit
Exchange (Exchange). However, three to four million Californians could
remain uninsured even after the law is fully implemented.

Many Californians will remain uninsured

* 3.1 to 4 million Californians are predicted to remain uninsured in 2019.

* Almost three-quarters of the remaining uninsured in California will be
U.S. citizens or lawfully present immigrants.

* Half of all remaining uninsured, or two million Californians, will be
eligible for Medi-Cal or Exchange subsidies but remain unenrolled under
the base scenario. Barriers to enrollment could include lack of
awareness about the programs, challenges in the enrollment process, or
inability to afford subsidized coverage.

* 72 percent of remaining uninsured Californians will be exempt from
paying tax penalties under the minimum coverage requirements of the ACA
due to income, lack of an affordable offer of coverage or immigration
status. Approximately three percent of all Californians will owe a tax
penalty due to not obtaining minimum coverage.

* Nearly 40 percent of the remaining uninsured will lack an offer of
affordable coverage with premiums costing eight percent of household
income or less. Some uninsured Californians will be ineligible for
subsidized coverage due to income or immigration status, while others
will be eligible for subsidized plans in the Exchange with premiums that
exceed the affordability standard.

* Some of the remaining uninsured will lack coverage for short time
periods due to life transitions.

Some demographic groups will be more likely to remain uninsured

* Two-thirds (66%) of Californians remaining uninsured will be Latino,
compared to a projected 45 percent of the non-elderly population in 2020.

* Nearly three out of five California adults who remain uninsured will
be Limited English Proficient.

* 57 percent of Californians who remain uninsured will have household
incomes at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/healthcare/aca_uninsured.shtml


Comment: The projected numbers and demographics of the uninsured after
full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in California are
shameful. Although there would be regional differences in demographics,
the national numbers would be roughly tenfold. We can do far better by
enacting an improved Medicare for all.