California Health Insurance

How healthy is living in California?

In 2007 California slipped one position into being the 25th most healthy state to live in, dropping two notches from 2006 in the latest study commissioned by United Health Foundation. Strengths include a low rate of smoking (14.9 percent) and occupational fatalities (3 deaths per 1,00,000 workers). The state slipped in infant mortalities, dropping from 3rd fewest such deaths in the nation to 9th. Since 1990, the violent crime rate has plummeted from 918 offenses per 100,000 people to 533 (a light increase from last year. The cost of health care in California is high, but the quality of care is low.

See the United Health Foundation's latest findings on California.

Does California have a risk pool for the uninsurable?

California Major Risk Medical Insurance Program
Toll-free 1-800-289-6574 or (916) 324-4695

Risk pools are state-sponsored programs to help people with a history of medical problems in their family to purchase coverage. These pools are for people who can afford to buy health insurance, but are not able to get underwritten in the private market because of a pre-existing health condition. These programs can vary significantly from state-to-state in price, benefits and number of people served. Often insurance companies doing business in the state are required to contribute to the poolto keep it in the black. In the best cases they allow people to be able to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing their health insurance coverage. Find more on risk pools here.

Mini-meds a guaranteed-issue option for those who are medically uninsurable

An option for the medically uninsurable is a guaranteed-issue mini-med health insurance plan. There is no underwriting and no health questions are asked.

These plans provide basic coverage but are not designed to help with catastrophic expenses. They can often count as creditable coverage, eliminating the waiting period for pre-existing conditions if you later move to an employer-based plan (based on the same criteria as other plans offering creditable coverage.) See our article about this new class of health insurance here.

Cover The Uninsured's guide on finding health insurance in California

Cover The Uninsured is a national effort to highlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and to demand solutions from our nation's leaders. Read more information on its efforts. It is a project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

• Cover The Uninsured's facts on the uninsured in California.
• Its guide on how to find health insurance in California.
• Materiales En Español -- Guías para encontrar cobertura de seguro de salud.

Georgetown University's Guide to Health Insurance in California

Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute has researched and written state-by-state guides for finding and keeping health insurance. It updates these guides as federal and state policies change. A number of non-profit organizations contribute to funding its research. Find more on the Health Policy Institute.

• Georgetown's guide for California.

News headlines on California health insurance

Find the most recent headlines on health insurance in California at Google News or Yahoo News.

Want single-payer health care? Concerned about the uninsured?
Contact your elected officials about health care issues

Contact your federal officials. Phone calls are best. Faxes are good, too. Since 9-11, postal mail creates long delays, and many members of Congress simply do not take e-mail seriously -- however, since e-mail is so easy it doesn't hurt to do that, too. Members of the Senate and Congress will usually ignore any correspondence that is not from their district, so it's not desirable to blanket e-mail them (This type of abuse is why many legislators do not view e-mail favorably). The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a guide on how to contact your elected officials, including a valuable list of dos and don'ts.

• Contact the White House
  Phone: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line)
  FAX: 1 202-456-2461 (fax)
  E-mail:comments@whitehouse.gov
  
  
• Find contact information on your U.S. Representative
  Locate by using your ZIP Code
  Or if you know who your representative is, simply call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 1-800-962-3524

• Senator Barbara Boxer
  PHONE: 202-224-3553 (DC office) State offices
  Contact by E-mail

• Senator Dianne Feinstein
  PHONE: 202-224-3841 (DC office)
  FAX: 202-228-3954 (DC office)
  State offices
  Contact by E-mail
  
  

Contact your state officials:

• California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
  State Capitol Building
  Sacramento, CA 95814
  PHONE: 916-445-2841
  FAX: 916-558-3160
  Contact by e-mail
  
  
  
• Contact your California State Senator and State Representative

USNews health insurance rankings for California

US News does an annual ranking of what it considers the best health insurance plans in each state. Visit its reports on various health insurance or medical insurance plans being offered in California.

Official State Goverment Sites with California Health Insurance Information

California Department of Health Care Services and California Department of Public Health
-- A 2007 reorganization has split into two the official government Web sites for departments responsible for health care services for Californians.

Medicare information from California State Department of Aging -- State government resources for Californians needing help with Medicare and other government health insurance programs on federal, state and local levels.

Office of Multicultural Health, California State Department of Health Services-- The state agency which tries to reduce inequality in health status, information and resources on multicultural health.

Consumer Information from the California State Department of Insurance -- Health insurance topics and information geared specially for consumers.

California State Department of Insurance -- Deals with issues of individual health insurance in California, as well as other types of insurance.