We are coming to the end of the first year of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Although the ACA ushered in an era of improvements, we still have a long way to go. Devin Miller, Washington correspondent for the American Academy of Pediatrics, optimistically reports that more children that ever are currently insured, thanks to the ACA, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. 1 He reports a 25% reduction in the number of uninsured Americans, which should be great news. My question is, what does “being insured” mean? In my experience, the new Covered California plans generally have a large deductibles, sizable co-pays, restrictive formularies accompanied by many exclusions. If you can still go bankrupt from medical bills while insured, how much good has this done? We are happy that many more people have insurance now, but that needs to translate into good medical care for policy-holders. If the insurance industry does not step up and become a good partner in the
Thoughts on health care reform and other local occurences