California Health Insurance
California’s health status
According to America’s Health Ranking 2008 (a rank list put together by the United Health Foundation that evaluates and ranks the Health Care factors and services among the US’ 50 states), California is the 24th healthiest state to live in. California’s ranking has begun to improve again (it was the 25th state a year ago) after a slight fall in 2006 and 2007. It’s one of the States that has a strong public funding ($104 per person), but at the same time, it’s a state that has a very high percentage of people with no Health Insurance (the sixth worst state, with 18.5% of Californians without Health Insurance).
Key factors that might cause the high percentage of people lacking proper Health Insurance are the high percentage of geographic disparity (17.3%) and a slightly below-than-average percentage of High School Graduations, with only 74.6% of the incoming ninth graders graduating. Health issues need to be looked upon in California are high levels of air pollution (despite decreasing significantly from 2007, 14.8 micrograms of fine particulate per cubic meter still keeps California in the bottom 10 states), an increase of 1.5% of the prevalence of binge drinkers, and a high incidence of infectious disease at 21.4 cases per 100,000 population. Also, despite dropping slightly, the violent crime rate is high at 523 offenses per 100,000 population.
Strong Health factors for California are the rate of Occupational deaths (the second lowest in the nation), and a low number of Cancer-related deaths (only 175.4 per 100,000 population). Cardiovascular-related deaths are also decreasing, as well as infant mortality. Also, the high number of primary care physicians and the low rate of preventable hospitalizations make the Health system in California reliable and accessible. Nevertheless, it’s one of the states with the biggest percentage of people with no Health Insurance. Public health funding is strong, but Health Insurance needs to be more accessible, so its quality can be raised.
Overall, California’s Health System is a good health system, and it should stay that way, if key issues can be controlled and public funding continues. It’s important to mention that the health outcomes are ranked higher than health determinants, which indicates that the overall healthiness of the California people seems to increase over time. Overall, California is a good and healthy place to live, as long as you manage to have a good Health Coverage plan.
California health insurance information
About 81.6% of the citizens in California have Health Insurance, but with 18.5% of the population lacking it, there are still many people that cannot afford or aren’t able to have a Health Insurance plan. This percentage needs to be lowered with new policies and Health Care Plans. The percentage of employers offering health insurance to employees is 59.8% and the good news are that it’s been going up for the past five years, with more than 82 percent of workers taking the Health Insurance plans offered by their employers.
The access to primary health care is average (California is ranked 22nd) despite its very high geographical disparity, and the percentage of population that could get medical care when needed is high at 85.7% and the patients served by FQHCs as a percent of population under 200% FPL stands at 17.9%, an average value.
If coverage has been denied for you, there are still some options you can check:
Best health plans in California
The prestigious US News ranks yearly the best Health Plans in the country, polling and evaluating consumer assessment, prevention, and treatment offered by all plans. They gather information and rank the results, nation-wide and state-wide, showing on their results the best plans available for California as well. The Rankings reflect results of consumer surveys and success in preventing and treating illness compared with average health plan.
Not only they rank Commercial Plans, they also rank Medicare or Medicaid plans, covering and evaluating as many plans as possible. If you want to browse their list of best-of, please go to the US News Health Plans Search site.
Get involved
If you are concerned about California’s health care issues and want to speak out, your safest bet is to contact your federal official, either via phone or fax. Postal Mail is not recommended, since it takes too long, and e-mail might not be seen. Also, make sure you communicate with the right Member of the Senate and/or Congress.
If you want more guidance and tips on how to contact and communicate with your representatives, there are various sites on the internet that can help on how to contact your elected officials.
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Contact the White HousePHONE: toll free 1-800-671-7887 (ask for the Comment Line) FAX: 1 202-456-2461 State officials:
Official California health insurance information
| Recent California health insurance newsHealth Insurance is always a hot topic for discussion, since it involves the citizens of California and their welfare. Here are some of the latest news and updates on the current issues and news related to Health and Health Insurance for California: |
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