blog post Health Care Access for California’s Immigrants By Paulette Cha, Mary Severance May 22, 2019 Governor Newsom wants to extend Medi-Cal access to low-income young adults up to age 26 regardless of immigration status, a proposal with strong public support.
Fact Sheet The Medi-Cal Program By Shannon McConville, Paulette Cha Apr 8, 2019 Medi-Cal is a state-federal program that provides 12 million low-income Californians with comprehensive health insurance.
blog post Emergency Departments and the Affordable Care Act By Shannon McConville Jun 27, 2018 Frequent visits to the emergency department can mean patients have few medical care options. Under the ACA, frequent emergency department use fell for Medi-Cal patients.
blog post Expanding Health Care Coverage for Undocumented Immigrants By Shannon McConville Apr 4, 2018 California lawmakers are supporting incremental policy measures to expand health care coverage to all income-eligible residents, regardless of immigration status.
Report Funding the Medi-Cal Program By Caroline Danielson, Shannon McConville, Paul Warren Mar 30, 2017 Medi-Cal—a key source of health insurance in California—faced fiscal challenges even before the November 2016 election threw federal health care policy into question. State policymakers looking at funding options need to consider both the larger budgetary context and the fiscal soundness of potential revenue sources. This research was supported with funding from the California Health Care Foundation.
Report Expanding Health Coverage in California: County Jails as Enrollment Sites By Shannon McConville, Mia Bird May 10, 2016 In 2014, the first year of Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation, the number of Californians with health insurance increased substantially. However, millions of state residents continue to lack comprehensive health coverage, and those who remain uninsured are likely more difficult to enroll through traditional strategies. In this report, we find that uninsured rates are highest for young men and for those with low levels of education, income, and employment. The prevalence of these same characteristics among correctional populations suggests that the justice system—and, in particular, county jails—may offer points of contact for many uninsured individuals who would otherwise be hard to reach. Outreach and enrollment efforts aimed at local jail populations are set within the policy context of California’s 2011 Public Safety Realignment, which created incentives and resources for local corrections agencies to improve reentry outcomes. With expansions in access to health insurance coverage under the ACA, nearly all counties are establishing programs to provide enrollment assistance to jail inmates as part of a more comprehensive reentry strategy. But resources and capacity are limited, so it is important to identify effective models to maximize the potential of county correctional systems as sites of insurance enrollment.
blog post Immigrants and Health Insurance By Shannon McConville Nov 18, 2015 California has seen large declines in the uninsured rate among noncitizens—a group that includes an estimated 2.6 million people who legally reside in the state, as well as 2.7 million undocumented immigrants.
blog post Big Declines in Number of Uninsured Californians By Shannon McConville Sep 17, 2015 Nearly 2 million more Californians had health insurance coverage in 2014 than in 2013, according to newly released US Census data.
