Where are California’s Uninsured Now? Wave 2 of the Kaiser Family Foundation California Longitudinal Panel Survey
By Bianca DiLulio, Jamie Firth, Larry Levitt, Gary Claxton, Rachel Garfield and Mollyann Brodie
Kaiser Family Foundation, July 30, 2014
Of those Californians who were uninsured prior to open enrollment, 58 percent now report having health insurance, which translates to about 3.4 million previously uninsured adult Californians who have gained coverage, and 42 percent say they remain uninsured. The most common source of coverage was Medi-Cal with 25 percent of previously uninsured Californians reporting they are now covered by Medi-Cal. An additional 9 percent of California’s previously uninsured say they enrolled in a plan through Covered California, resulting in about a third reporting new coverage from the two sources most directly tied to the ACA. Twelve percent say they obtained coverage through an employer and 5 percent report enrolling in non-group plans outside of the Covered California Marketplace; some enrollment in these types of coverage may have been motivated by the ACA’s requirement to purchase insurance and some may be the result of normal movement within the marketplace.
Section 3: The Remaining Uninsured
Who Remained Uninsured?
As many previously uninsured Californians gained coverage, 42 percent remained uninsured. Many of the remaining uninsured have tenuous links to health insurance posing challenges for future enrollment efforts. Forty-five percent of the remaining uninsured reported in the baseline survey that they had been without health insurance for two or more years and an additional 37 percent said they have never had insurance. Hispanics make up 62 percent of the remaining uninsured and nearly half of them (29 percent) are undocumented Hispanics who are not eligible for Medi-Cal or assistance through Covered California. About 4 in 10 (39 percent) report family income that put them in the group likely eligible for Medi-Cal and another quarter (24 percent) are likely eligible for financial assistance through Covered California. These shares reflect the demographics of people who were uninsured prior to the first ACA open enrollment period and did not get coverage during the open enrollment period. Others may have been covered prior to open enrollment but now uninsured – a group not captured by this survey.
Why Did They Remain Uninsured?
Why did 42 percent of California’s uninsured prior to open enrollment remain without coverage? Most of the remaining uninsured seem to value insurance, with majorities saying it is something they need (71 percent) and that it is worth the costs (59 percent). Still roughly 3 in 10 of the remaining uninsured say they can get by without insurance (28 percent) or don’t feel coverage is worth the price (33 percent), including 4 in 10 (40 percent) of those who are likely eligible for coverage through Covered California or Medi-Cal due to their self-reported income level and immigration status.
The cost of insurance (whether perceived or actual) remains a barrier. When asked in their own words why they didn’t get coverage, one-third (34 percent) point to costs as the reason. Fifteen percent say they don’t qualify or don’t think they do, including 9 percent who say they can’t enroll or are worried about signing up because of their immigration status. Other reasons the remaining uninsured give for not signing up for coverage include not having yet tried or being too busy (9 percent), not having enough information about enrolling (9 percent), having tried but not being successful (8 percent), and not wanting or needing coverage (7 percent). A few (6 percent) say they didn’t get insurance because of issues associated with the application process, including three percent who say they are still awaiting contact or approval – a finding that is perhaps related to the large backlog of about 900,000 Medi-Cal applicants waiting for counties across the state to process their applications.
California’s Undocumented Uninsured
In California, undocumented immigrants make up about a fifth of those who were uninsured before the ACA expansions kicked in, and under the law, they are not eligible for Medi-Cal or subsidies through the exchange. As a group they are largely aware of these restrictions – 63 percent say they are not eligible for Medi-Cal and 70 percent say they don’t qualify for financial assistance through Covered California. Half say the mandate doesn’t apply to them and most (60 percent) correctly respond that they won’t have to pay a fine for not having coverage.
While the ACA restricts access to health benefits for undocumented immigrants under the law, there is still keen interest in coverage among this group. Since last summer about a third (35 percent) of California’s undocumented uninsured say they obtained coverage and of those who remain uninsured, half say they intend to get coverage later this year. In fact, the remaining undocumented uninsured are more apt to say they place a high value on insurance than other remaining uninsured Californians; nearly three quarters (73 percent) of the undocumented uninsured say health insurance is worth the cost and 85 percent say it is something they need, each 20 percentage points higher than the share for other remaining uninsured Californians.
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Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
California’s aggressive efforts to implement the provisions of the Affordable Care Act resulted in 58 percent of the previously uninsured now having coverage – about 3.4 million individuals. While this certainly gives cause for celebration, it must be tempered by the knowledge that 42 percent of the previously uninsured are still uninsured. Who are these people and why are they not insured?
The excerpts above provide a brief answer, though much more is available in the comprehensive report at the link above. In very general terms, as these authors note, many of the remaining uninsured “have tenuous links to health insurance posing challenges for future enrollment efforts.” The roughly 2.5 million previously uninsured who still remain uninsured will provide much greater challenges in trying to get them enrolled in some form of coverage, and a great many of them will still remain uninsured.
A comment should be made about California’s undocumented residents. They tend to be blamed by some for California’s high numbers of uninsured. Actually they constituted only about one-fifth of the uninsured before implementation of ACA. Although they are not eligible for Medi-Cal (Medicaid) nor for subsidies under Covered California (ACA insurance exchange), 35 percent obtained coverage on their own and another 50 percent intend to later this year. They have, in fact, been more responsible in this regard than have other uninsured Californians who were not enrolled in Medi-Cal or Covered California.
California’s efforts have been exemplary, and those involved in the ACA implementation are to be commended. Yet it is likely that one or two million people will remain uninsured. That’s not acceptable, and it is not California’s fault. California, and the entire nation for that matter, has an irreparably flawed health care financing infrastructure with which to work. It is obvious what we need to do. We need to replace this flawed system with a single payer national health program covering everyone, including the undocumented. The sooner the better.
