This is archived content, for historical reference only.

This guide tracks the California implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), whose provisions touch on most aspects of the health care system, including cost, quality, and access. It describes the law’s requirements for public and private coverage and breaks each into implementation objectives — some complete, others underway, and some not yet begun.

The law requires, with few exceptions, that people obtain health insurance, and it provides new structures and supports to help them do so. Today about 1 in 5 nonelderly Californians is uninsured. This ratio is expected to fall to 1 in 10 by 2016 because of the ACA. Those who obtain health insurance should gain not only financial security, but also improved access to care, and through it, better health outcomes.

The content is organized by these broad ACA goals and implementation objectives:

• Goal 1: Expand coverage in public programs. The law expands Medi-Cal coverage to adults with low incomes and to children in low-income households. This should improve access to care for the neediest Californians.
• Goal 2: Simplify and streamline eligibility and enrollment. States must provide a means by which people can quickly learn if they are eligible for state-funded programs or subsidized private health plans, apply, and enroll.
• Goal 3: Protect health insurance consumers. The law prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions or from placing lifetime limits on coverage, and assures that products sold meet standards for comprehensiveness.
• Goal 4: Create a new marketplace for private health insurance. California’s Health Benefit Exchange will make shopping for health insurance easier, make the costs and benefits of plans more understandable, and administer subsidies to qualifying applicants.

CHCF contracted with the management consulting firm Leading Resources Inc. (LRI) to develop content for this guide. LRI principals Eric Douglas and Karin Bloomer solicited and incorporated input from executive staff of DHCS, the Exchange, DMHC, MRMIB, and CDI. Jonah Frohlich and Alice Lam of Manatt Health Solutions; Deborah Kelch of Kelch Policy Group; and independent consultant Lesley Cummings also provided comments.

This guide was first published in November 2012 and updated quarterly until the final version in January 2014. See sequential versions with redlined changes under Document Downloads.