California — Restrictions on eligibility for health care reform programs will result in the potential exclusion of up to 220,000 children from affordable health care coverage in California, according to a new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law, “to put American consumers back in charge of their health coverage and care. Insurance companies often leave patients without coverage when they need it the most, causing them to put off needed care, compromising their health and driving up the cost of care when they get it,” explained the Health Care Reform fact sheet published March 2010.
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“Health care reform restrictions raise some very unpleasant questions about our willingness as a society to let children go without care,” said the study’s lead author, Ninez Ponce, a Center faculty and an associate professor at the UCLA School of Public Health. “And confusion over the rules may result in even eligible children being cut off from coverage.”
Although its speculated that public coverage programs such as Medi-Cal and Healthy Families provide a safety net for more than 1 million immigrant children, including undocumented children, state funding to cover this population may soon dry up due to California’s ongoing budget crisis. “Our health care system works best when everyone has access to — and utilizes — ongoing preventive care that keeps simple problems from turning into costly emergencies,” said Gary L. Yates, president and CEO of The California Wellness Foundation. “To do otherwise, presents a public health risk.”
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