Children’s Insurance Policies Reinstated in CA
January 9, 2011
Posted by chcablogadmin in : Community Benefit, Healthcare Reform, Industry Trends
By Richard Cordova, FACHE, President and Chief Executive Officer, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
Richard Cordova
In recent years, many parents in California found that health insurance coverage for their children was out of reach either because insurance companies denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition or parents simply could not afford the insurance premiums. A pre-existing condition could be as innocuous as an ear infection to something as serious as asthma.
On top of that, cuts to California’s Medicaid (Medi-Cal) program had a profound effect on children statewide. Families USA reports that more than a quarter of a million children lost health coverage, and another 160,000 were vulnerable to proposed further cuts.
Thankfully, good news is on the way with the passage of a new law that took effect Jan. 1.
With this new law and the subsequent reversal of health plan restrictions on selling these policies, parents now have more options to acquire insurance coverage for their children who were previously excluded from coverage due to a pre-existing condition. This dramatic change will offer coverage to an additional 80,000 children who are currently not insured by family policies or by their parents’ employer-based insurance coverage.
In terms of how this will affect Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, we serve a high portion of Medi-Cal patients. Efforts are underway to improve our payer mix and we expect to see more private pay patients over the next year, coinciding with the opening of our new patient tower in July 2011.
An added economic benefit of this new law is that California will now have an opportunity to save millions of dollars it has earmarked to fund state health insurance for our kids.
Good news, indeed.
Editor’s Note: For more information, read the L.A. Times article describing the new law, reinstatement of policies and insurance company reactions.
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