California Affordable Health Insurance

Blue Shield of California on Tuesday said it will reinstate coverage for 678 state residents whose health insurance was improperly canceled between Jan. 1, 2004, and May 31, 2008, after they got sick, the Los Angeles Times reports. Blue Shield also said it will reimburse out-of-pocket medical expenses for people whose coverage was rescinded during that time. As a result, the state has dropped its case against the insurer and will not pursue $12.6 million in proposed fines.

The California HealthCare Foundation has released it's data about the health of California and it is not good. Over the past 20 years the number of people without health insurance coverage continues to rise and we have the highest number of all the states - 6.6 million uninsured citizens.

Here are some surprising findings about the uninsured in California.

* More than a third come from families with incomes over $50K

* Nearly 60% are Latino

* More than 70% of children without health insurance come from families where a parent works FULL TIME.

According to the new settlement that has been reached between the Blue Shield and California Health Inurance Department over rescission practices, every affected consumer will eceive full reimbursement for medical costs.

Aides to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday released a proposal to address the state's budget deficit in part by cutting funds for Medi-Cal and other health care programs, the Sacramento Bee reports (Yamamura, Sacramento Bee, 1/1).

A law requiring California health, dental and specialty insurers to provide members with interpreters took effect Jan. 1, the Sacramento Bee reports. Of the 37 million people living in California, more than 40% speak a language other than English, and one-fifth of the population say they cannot speak English "very well," according to the Bee.

Nearly one-fifth of all Californians under age 65 were without health insurance for all or some of 2007, according to a policy brief released today by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Drawing on comprehensive new data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), the policy brief's authors found that 6.4 million Californians lacked any health insurance coverage for all or some of 2007, the most recent year for which comprehensive statewide data is available.

California Medicaid beneficiaries who faced gaps in coverage were more than three times as likely as those with continuous coverage to be hospitalized for chronic illnesses, according to a five-year retrospective study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the New York Times reports (Rabin, New York Times, 12/17). For the study, funded by the Commonwealth Fund, researchers examined use of health services by Medicaid beneficiaries from 1998 to 2002. During that period, beneficiaries were required to verify their eligibility every three months.

California Republican lawmakers on Monday released a plan to address the state's projected $41.8 billion budget deficit in part by redirecting funds for mental health services and children's health care, the Los Angeles Times reports (Rau, Los Angeles Times, 12/16).

The percentage of Californians younger than age 65 who were uninsured at some point in 2007 declined to 19.5% from 20.2% in 2005, according to a survey released on Monday by the University of California-Los Angeles Center for Health Policy Research, the Sacramento Bee reports. Researchers attributed the drop to an increase in employer-sponsored coverage in 2007.

Recession threatens to erase slight gains in California health insurance coverage since 2005 as nearly 6.4 million Californians lack health insurance.

Nearly one-fifth of all Californians under age 65 were without health insurance for all or some of 2007, according to a policy brief released today by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.