Coverage Trends - California Health Care Foundation

Coverage Trends
With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the health insurance landscape changed dramatically in California. Fewer Californians are uninsured, more than one in three is now enrolled in Medi-Cal, and over a million purchase insurance through the ACA-mandated health insurance marketplace, Covered California. CHCF reports analyze and track trends in health insurance coverage, how much that coverage costs, and who remains uninsured.

California Health Insurance Enrollment in 2021

Katherine Wilson

Coverage Trends

Total health insurance enrollment in California in 2021 increased by 1.4% (474,000) to 34.3 million enrollees. This compared to 3.3% growth in 2020.

Medical Loss Ratio Resources

Katherine Wilson

Coverage Trends

The medical loss ratio (MLR) is the percentage of premium that health insurers spend on medical care and quality improvement activities. These resources include the most recent MLR database with data from 2012 to 2020, as well as documents that describe the MLR and how to use the database.

California Health Insurance Stable in 2021, but Many Will Need to Switch Coverage Once COVID-19 Pandemic Protections End

State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC)

Coverage Trends

During 2021, the second calendar year of the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s health insurance landscape remained relatively stable. This article focuses exclusively on Californians under age 65, which is the threshold for age-based Medicare coverage, and the coverage rates highlighted below include children except where otherwise specified (i.e., “nonelderly adults”).

Medi-Cal and the End of the Federal Continuous Coverage Requirement

Coverage Trends

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, California will resume its normal processes to redetermine eligibility for Medi-Cal enrollees starting in April 2023. It will be imperative to help many of these Californians transition to other types of coverage and to ensure that those who remain eligible keep their Medi-Cal coverage.

2022 Edition — California’s County-Based Health Plans

Katherine Wilson

Coverage Trends

The state's county-based health plans are public entities organized through one or more counties to ensure that Medi-Cal enrollees, and in some cases county employees and Covered California enrollees, receive comprehensive care. Where are these plans and who do they cover? How have they changed between 2012 and 2020?

2022 Edition — California Health Insurers

Katherine Wilson

Coverage Trends, Medi-Cal

California Health Insurers: Staying the Course provides a snapshot of the insurance market in California at the end of 2020. Data from the state’s two insurance regulators — the California Department of Managed Health Care and the California Department of Insurance — and other sources were used to examine market share, enrollment, financial performance, and consumer satisfaction.

Coverage During a Crisis: Insured Rate for Californians Hits Historic High in First Year of COVID-19 Pandemic

Coverage Trends

An analysis of data from the California Health Interview Survey shows that more Californians had health insurance than ever before in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet critical disparities in coverage persist, and coverage gains may slow, or even reverse, as pandemic policies wind down.

State, Federal Actions Protected Health Coverage for Millions During Pandemic

September 27, 2021

Heather Tirado Gilligan

Expanding Health Coverage, Medi-Cal, Coverage Trends

Stories That Caught Our Attention: The percentage of Americans with health insurance remained stable during 2020 despite a hobbled economy.

Unexpected Growth in California Health Insurance During COVID-19 Recession

Katherine Wilson

Coverage Trends

Data from California regulators show that — despite job losses — health insurance enrollment in the pandemic year 2020 increased by over one million (3.3%). State and federal policies designed to help people get and keep coverage were important factors.

2021 Edition — California Employer Health Benefits

Heidi Whitmore, Jennifer Satorius

Coverage Trends

Workers in California are shouldering more of the costs for their health benefits, paying both a larger share of premiums and higher deductibles and copays. California Employer Health Benefits: Are Workers Covered? presents data from the 2020 California Health Benefits Survey.

2021 Edition — Medi-Cal Facts and Figures

Len Finocchio, James Paci, Matthew Newman, Blue Sky Consulting Group

Medi-Cal, Coverage Trends

Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, is the state’s health insurance program for Californians with low incomes, including children, people with disabilities, and seniors. Get the latest data on this program, which covers one in three Californians.

2021 Edition — California Health Insurance Enrollment

Katherine Wilson

Coverage Trends

In 2020, California health insurers covered 33.8 million enrollees. This quick reference guide shows enrollment by regulator, market, and insurer. Data files are also available to download.

American Rescue Plan Improvements to Covered California Affordability: Who Gains?

Miranda Dietz, Srikanth Kadiyala, Tynan Challenor, Annie Rak, Dylan H. Roby, Laurel Lucia, Gerald F. Kominski

Expanding Health Coverage, Coverage Trends

Over 1.6 million Californians will benefit from the rescue plan, including 151,000 individual market enrollees who will qualify for subsidies for the first time and 135,000 uninsured people who will become insured.

Undocumented Projected to Remain California’s Largest Group of Uninsured in 2022

Miranda Dietz, Laurel Lucia, Srikanth Kadiyala, Tynan Challenor, Annie Rak, Dylan H. Roby, Gerald F. Kominski

Expanding Health Coverage, Medi-Cal, Coverage Trends

Even after the American Rescue Plan increases premium subsidies for health insurance purchased through Covered California, large inequities remain in who has access to affordable coverage.

Hanging On to Coverage?

Katherine Wilson, Laurel Lucia

Coverage Trends

Millions of Californians lost jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. But early information from California’s insurance regulators suggests that — at least through June — the number of Californians with job-based health insurance has not changed as dramatically as feared. This may help partially explain why the state’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, has not yet experienced a big surge in enrollment.