CAHP Annual Conference

Join Jonathan Bradley and Alan Little along with over 1,000 health care professionals to learn how health plans in California are dealing with changes, taking on new responsibilities for the state, implementing laws and regulations, and planning for the future.

The 2020 Presidential Election is in full gear and health care, once again, is a hot topic of debate. While the President is promising the unveiling of a new health care reform plan and battling against the Affordable Care Act, Democratic candidates are debating whether America should build upon the ACA or abolish our current health care system and move to a national “Medicare for All” system.

California, however, took big steps towards “Universal Coverage” in 2019 when Governor Newsom proposed enacting a state based requirement to obtain coverage, increased subsidies, and expanded coverage to undocumented California residents. Ultimately, the Governor’s plan was signed into law and California’s new policies to expand coverage, stabilize the individual marketplace, and increase affordability create a new opportunity to improve our health care system.

CAHP and its member plans urged lawmakers to pass the state level individual mandate, to expand coverage, and to provide increased subsidies for those who buy insurance on their own. Now comes the hard work of making it reality.

But California isn’t done yet. A new Commission on Universal Coverage/Single Payer starts this fall to examine more ways to reform our health care system. California’s Medi-Cal program is raising the bar on health plan performance with a special focus on pediatric services while also trying to tackle social determinants of health. New federal waivers are being considered. Payment reform and value based care continue to be hot topics for our health care system. California is also considering the creation of a health care payments database that would result in an opportunity to bring more transparency to health care costs but will also be a challenge to implement. The debate over high cost drugs continues with California pursuing a potentially dangerous plan to take the Pharmacy benefit out of Medi-Cal Managed Care.

Originally published by: CAHP Annual Conference