Health Care Experts Meet in Fresno To Discuss Options To Provide Care to Uninsured Californians
Medical, academic and health administration professionals met yesterday in Fresno to discuss options to provide health care services for the 6.8 million uninsured Californians, the Fresno Bee reports. Sponsored by the Health and Human Service Agency and the state Library/California Research Bureau, the meeting was one of several that will be held across the state as part of a law passed two years ago requiring public participation in a study of ways to increase health coverage in the state. David Maxwell-Jolly, deputy secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency, said the meetings could create "a consensus on how to make over the state's health system." Nine "options" for expanding coverage were discussed, including:
- the Healthy California Program, which would provide universal coverage by offering all citizens and legal residents a choice between public or private providers;
- the Managed Care Expansion Program, which would gradually expand public managed care programs for low-income, uninsured residents;
- the California PacAdvantage Premium Program, which would expand existing health coverage for uninsured families;
- the Single Payer Health Program in California, which would create a single-payer system to cover all state residents;
- Cal-Health, which would increase eligibility for subsidized coverage to those earning 250% of the poverty level;
- Choice, which would target working residents in families eligible for, but not enrolled in, public health programs and others with employer, individual and family plans;
- Cal-Cure, which would establish public-private partnerships and use more efficient administration to offer universal coverage while keeping costs down;
- the California Health Service Plan, which would establish a publicly owned and financed health care system using state-employed providers; and
- the "Insure the Uninsured Project," which would expand Medi-Cal and Healthy Families (Steinberg, Fresno Bee, 1/25).
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