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"disqusTitle": "Why Covered California May Not Be For You ",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14038\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-14038\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/08/RS5161_78770400-scr-e1375404453328.jpg\" alt=\"(Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"368\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/08/RS5161_78770400-scr-e1375404453328.jpg 640w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/08/RS5161_78770400-scr-e1375404453328-400x230.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/08/RS5161_78770400-scr-e1375404453328-320x184.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kelley Weiss\u003c/strong>, \u003ca href=\"http://centerforhealthreporting.org\" target=\"_blank\">CHCF Center for Health Reporting\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The health exchange – Covered California – is open for business and\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/10/01/covered-california-day-one-huge-traffic-obamacare/\" target=\"_blank\"> all over the news\u003c/a>. But many Californians won’t land there if they need health insurance for themselves or their families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead they’ll turn to private health insurance marketplaces or buy coverage directly from insurance companies or brokers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the roughly two million Californians who currently buy health insurance on their own, only about a third will \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/shopandcompare/#incomeGuidelines\">qualify for government tax subsidies\u003c/a> -- and to get the subsidy, people must buy through Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But without that subsidy to offset prices, there’s little incentive for people to buy on the state exchange, says insurance broker Carrie McLean. She’s the customer care director for the largest online health insurance broker in the country, eHealthInsurance. It operates like an Orbitz for health insurance and there are other similar online businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says many people who earn too much to expect government help will be shopping for off-exchange plans, where they’ll have more options.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What are off-exchange plans? As you might guess, they will not be sold on Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But off-exchange plans will still be\u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/what-does-marketplace-health-insurance-cover/\" target=\"_blank\"> required to meet 10 benefits standards\u003c/a> outlined in the health care law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, during the first day of Obamacare open enrollment, McLean cautioned that people shouldn’t make any rushed decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says many of the off-exchange plans are not yet available because government regulators still need to approve them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It may not be a good time today to actually buy a plan,” McLean says. “You may not be seeing all the options that are going to be available to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Insurance is tasked with approving most of those off-exchange plans. And to date the Insurance Commissioner’s office reports that many are still under review. Some of these plans are expected to be approved this week while others will be available later in the month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McLean says that’s why it’s important for people to wait until you can compare all of your choices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s time, you know, take a breath and know that you have time to get these new ACA plans,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Affordable Care Act plans will go live on Jan. 1. McLean says people have until Dec. 15 to enroll in a plan that will start on the first of the year. And they can enroll as late as Mar 31, 2014 for coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s another thing to keep in mind: most people with existing individual policies in California will get new plans by the end of the year. That’s because those individual plans don’t meet the standards outlined in Obamacare and \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/08/26/obamacare-to-force-millions-to-upgrade-insurance/\" target=\"_blank\">must be upgraded\u003c/a> to comply with the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when that letter from your insurance carrier shows up in the mail, McLean says to pay attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re set up on an electronic withdrawal from your bank account and that premium just got increased, you may be hit with that in December or January and not realize that your plan got moved and it may be costing you more,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the other thing. All plans will have to cover a certain percentage of medical costs and include standardized benefits. McLean says that means that the more than one million California residents who now have individual plans, and no subsidies, will very likely be paying a higher monthly premium.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "For the roughly two million Californians who currently buy health insurance on their own, only about a third will qualify for government tax subsidies through Covered California.\r\n\r\nAnd without that subsidy to offset prices, there’s little incentive for people to buy on the state exchange, says insurance broker Carrie McLean.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_14038\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-14038\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/08/RS5161_78770400-scr-e1375404453328.jpg\" alt=\"(Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"368\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/08/RS5161_78770400-scr-e1375404453328.jpg 640w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/08/RS5161_78770400-scr-e1375404453328-400x230.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/08/RS5161_78770400-scr-e1375404453328-320x184.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kelley Weiss\u003c/strong>, \u003ca href=\"http://centerforhealthreporting.org\" target=\"_blank\">CHCF Center for Health Reporting\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The health exchange – Covered California – is open for business and\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/10/01/covered-california-day-one-huge-traffic-obamacare/\" target=\"_blank\"> all over the news\u003c/a>. But many Californians won’t land there if they need health insurance for themselves or their families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead they’ll turn to private health insurance marketplaces or buy coverage directly from insurance companies or brokers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the roughly two million Californians who currently buy health insurance on their own, only about a third will \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com/shopandcompare/#incomeGuidelines\">qualify for government tax subsidies\u003c/a> -- and to get the subsidy, people must buy through Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But without that subsidy to offset prices, there’s little incentive for people to buy on the state exchange, says insurance broker Carrie McLean. She’s the customer care director for the largest online health insurance broker in the country, eHealthInsurance. It operates like an Orbitz for health insurance and there are other similar online businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says many people who earn too much to expect government help will be shopping for off-exchange plans, where they’ll have more options.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What are off-exchange plans? As you might guess, they will not be sold on Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But off-exchange plans will still be\u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/what-does-marketplace-health-insurance-cover/\" target=\"_blank\"> required to meet 10 benefits standards\u003c/a> outlined in the health care law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Tuesday, during the first day of Obamacare open enrollment, McLean cautioned that people shouldn’t make any rushed decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says many of the off-exchange plans are not yet available because government regulators still need to approve them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It may not be a good time today to actually buy a plan,” McLean says. “You may not be seeing all the options that are going to be available to you.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Insurance is tasked with approving most of those off-exchange plans. And to date the Insurance Commissioner’s office reports that many are still under review. Some of these plans are expected to be approved this week while others will be available later in the month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McLean says that’s why it’s important for people to wait until you can compare all of your choices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s time, you know, take a breath and know that you have time to get these new ACA plans,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Affordable Care Act plans will go live on Jan. 1. McLean says people have until Dec. 15 to enroll in a plan that will start on the first of the year. And they can enroll as late as Mar 31, 2014 for coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s another thing to keep in mind: most people with existing individual policies in California will get new plans by the end of the year. That’s because those individual plans don’t meet the standards outlined in Obamacare and \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/08/26/obamacare-to-force-millions-to-upgrade-insurance/\" target=\"_blank\">must be upgraded\u003c/a> to comply with the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when that letter from your insurance carrier shows up in the mail, McLean says to pay attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re set up on an electronic withdrawal from your bank account and that premium just got increased, you may be hit with that in December or January and not realize that your plan got moved and it may be costing you more,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s the other thing. All plans will have to cover a certain percentage of medical costs and include standardized benefits. McLean says that means that the more than one million California residents who now have individual plans, and no subsidies, will very likely be paying a higher monthly premium.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Obamacare Day One: A Tale of 2 States – California and Virginia",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15407\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15407\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/Jenny-Gold-640x359.jpg\" alt=\"Onita Sanders, a certified application counselor at the Southeastern Virginia Health System, tries to helps Brenda Harrell enroll in health coverage at Enrollfest in Hampton, Va. (Jenny Gold/KHN)\" width=\"640\" height=\"359\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Onita Sanders, a certified application counselor at the Southeastern Virginia Health System, tries to helps Brenda Harrell enroll in health coverage at Enrollfest in Hampton, Va. (Jenny Gold/KHN)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Sarah Varney and Jenny Gold,\u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/October/02/ACA-Day-One-In-Calif-and-Va.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"> Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Keep calm and go live.” Those were the words on the backs of the T-shirts worn by workers at a bustling state health insurance call center in Rancho Cordova yesterday. But if the T-shirts urged calm, the mood was ecstatic and emotional among the architects and key backers who gathered to flip the switch on Covered California, the Golden State’s new health insurance marketplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, addressed a cheering crowd in this Sacramento suburb and drew a stark contrast to the grinding politics of Washington, D.C., that shuttered much of the federal government on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>While Washington is talking about shutdown, we’re talking about startup,”\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>said Lee, as he declared an end to the era of a punishing individual insurance market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Gone are the days of invasive questions when you apply for insurance about your allergies, your asthma, your diabetes, your cancer. Gone,” said Lee.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>“You’re never going to be asked that again. Gone are rates based on your answers to those questions.”\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the mood was equally buoyant at a Hampton, Virginia, rally, the circumstances for people wanting insurance in the state couldn’t have been more different. At Enrollfest, one of the few Obamacare events in the state, organizer Gaylene Kanoyton was quick to point out that “the state is not providing any resources. So, we just have to go ahead and move on. It is a grassroots effort. It is up to all of us as citizens to come together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kanoyton is a mover and a shaker, and she managed to get a dozen local agencies, health centers and advocacy groups to set up tables at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in this city in southeastern Virginia. She advertised the event in churches, community centers, on the radio, and says that some 400 people came out for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among them was Brenda Harrell, 57, a former hair stylist who’s lived in Hampton all her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m here to get some insurance, some coverage,” Harrell said. “I’ve been out of work over a year, I have heart and respiratory failure, denied for Medicaid, and still don’t have any coverage. I haven’t seen a doctor for my breathing for over a year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She brought along her portable oxygen tank, which she needs to breathe. She has $19,000 in medical debt already and can’t afford new tubes for the tank. She’s just been using the same ones over and over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now she has a glimmer of hope as she sits down with a certified application counselor from a local health center to help her sign up on the federal government’s enrollment site, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">www.healthcare.gov\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the site is overloaded. They try four times, but can’t do much more than enter Harrell’s name and set up a password. And even if they could, Harrell would still probably be out of luck. Her income is less than $10,000 a year — too much to qualify for Medicaid in a state that’s not expanding the program, and too little for a subsidy to help her buy a plan on the exchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">[Related: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained -- A Guide for Californians\u003c/a>]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will be a different story for people in similar situations in California. The state was an eager and early adopter of the Affordable Care Act, born out of a bipartisan agreement, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a consumer advocacy group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were the first state in the nation to set up an exchange and that was under a Republican governor,” Wright said. “Our bill to set up the pre-existing insurance program was co-sponsored by a Republican in our legislature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While 2.6 million uninsured Californians are expected to qualify for a subsidy to buy private insurance, another 1.4 million will be newly eligible for Medicaid. All told, there are 5 million uninsured Californians who will have to decide what kind of coverage they want to buy to comply with the law’s mandate that they have health insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news organization covering health care policy and politics. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "While the mood was equally buoyant at a Hampton, Virginia, rally, the circumstances for people wanting insurance in the state couldn’t have been more different. At Enrollfest, one of the few Obamacare events in the state, organizer Gaylene Kanoyton was quick to point out that “the state is not providing any resources. So, we just have to go ahead and move on. It is a grassroots effort. It is up to all of us as citizens to come together.”",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15407\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15407\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/Jenny-Gold-640x359.jpg\" alt=\"Onita Sanders, a certified application counselor at the Southeastern Virginia Health System, tries to helps Brenda Harrell enroll in health coverage at Enrollfest in Hampton, Va. (Jenny Gold/KHN)\" width=\"640\" height=\"359\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Onita Sanders, a certified application counselor at the Southeastern Virginia Health System, tries to helps Brenda Harrell enroll in health coverage at Enrollfest in Hampton, Va. (Jenny Gold/KHN)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Sarah Varney and Jenny Gold,\u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/October/02/ACA-Day-One-In-Calif-and-Va.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"> Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Keep calm and go live.” Those were the words on the backs of the T-shirts worn by workers at a bustling state health insurance call center in Rancho Cordova yesterday. But if the T-shirts urged calm, the mood was ecstatic and emotional among the architects and key backers who gathered to flip the switch on Covered California, the Golden State’s new health insurance marketplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, addressed a cheering crowd in this Sacramento suburb and drew a stark contrast to the grinding politics of Washington, D.C., that shuttered much of the federal government on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>While Washington is talking about shutdown, we’re talking about startup,”\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>said Lee, as he declared an end to the era of a punishing individual insurance market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Gone are the days of invasive questions when you apply for insurance about your allergies, your asthma, your diabetes, your cancer. Gone,” said Lee.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>“You’re never going to be asked that again. Gone are rates based on your answers to those questions.”\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the mood was equally buoyant at a Hampton, Virginia, rally, the circumstances for people wanting insurance in the state couldn’t have been more different. At Enrollfest, one of the few Obamacare events in the state, organizer Gaylene Kanoyton was quick to point out that “the state is not providing any resources. So, we just have to go ahead and move on. It is a grassroots effort. It is up to all of us as citizens to come together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kanoyton is a mover and a shaker, and she managed to get a dozen local agencies, health centers and advocacy groups to set up tables at the Boo Williams Sportsplex in this city in southeastern Virginia. She advertised the event in churches, community centers, on the radio, and says that some 400 people came out for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among them was Brenda Harrell, 57, a former hair stylist who’s lived in Hampton all her life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m here to get some insurance, some coverage,” Harrell said. “I’ve been out of work over a year, I have heart and respiratory failure, denied for Medicaid, and still don’t have any coverage. I haven’t seen a doctor for my breathing for over a year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She brought along her portable oxygen tank, which she needs to breathe. She has $19,000 in medical debt already and can’t afford new tubes for the tank. She’s just been using the same ones over and over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now she has a glimmer of hope as she sits down with a certified application counselor from a local health center to help her sign up on the federal government’s enrollment site, \u003ca href=\"https://www.healthcare.gov/\" target=\"_blank\">www.healthcare.gov\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the site is overloaded. They try four times, but can’t do much more than enter Harrell’s name and set up a password. And even if they could, Harrell would still probably be out of luck. Her income is less than $10,000 a year — too much to qualify for Medicaid in a state that’s not expanding the program, and too little for a subsidy to help her buy a plan on the exchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">[Related: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained -- A Guide for Californians\u003c/a>]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It will be a different story for people in similar situations in California. The state was an eager and early adopter of the Affordable Care Act, born out of a bipartisan agreement, said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a consumer advocacy group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were the first state in the nation to set up an exchange and that was under a Republican governor,” Wright said. “Our bill to set up the pre-existing insurance program was co-sponsored by a Republican in our legislature.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While 2.6 million uninsured Californians are expected to qualify for a subsidy to buy private insurance, another 1.4 million will be newly eligible for Medicaid. All told, there are 5 million uninsured Californians who will have to decide what kind of coverage they want to buy to comply with the law’s mandate that they have health insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news organization covering health care policy and politics. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/6865_transform.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-15375\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/6865_transform.jpg\" alt=\"A woman looks at the HealthCare.gov insurance exchange on October 1, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/6865_transform.jpg 640w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/6865_transform-400x225.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/6865_transform-320x180.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A woman looks at the HealthCare.gov insurance exchange on October 1, 2013, in Washington, DC. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The ceremonial switch was thrown Tuesday morning around 8 a.m., and Covered California was open for business. By 3 p.m., officials reported the Covered California website had received 5 million hits, averaging 5,000 per minute, and call center wait times were 20-30 minutes. Roughly 17,000 people called in to Covered California service centers by 3 p.m.*\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California is the state's new health insurance marketplace, established as part of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Call centers in California — and nationwide — have been jammed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lines weren't just long on the phone either. There was a sign-up event at Merritt College in Oakland Tuesday afternoon for community college students. KQED writer Ryder Diaz reported long wait times; students were having to leave and go to class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While today has been a very busy day, people do still have time to enroll. For insurance that will take effect Jan. 1, Californians need to enroll by Dec. 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a press event Tuesday morning, Covered California executive director Peter Lee struck an almost-euphoric note.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is the day where millions of people's dreams are going to come true,\" Lee said. \"This is a day when a hundred years of efforts by Republicans going back to Teddy Roosevelt, to Democrats like Teddy Kennedy, have been working to change America to make health care a right, not a privilege.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going forward, in California, rates may only be set according to three factors: your age, where you live and number of people in your family. No longer can your health status be taken into account or can you be turned down for health insurance because of a preexisting condition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED's Mina Kim spoke with Lisa Aliferis about Covered California's big day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F113443861\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Not everyone is affected \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you currently have job-based insurance or if you're on Medicare or Medi-Cal, nothing about your situation is going to change. But if you're buying your own insurance, Covered California is a new marketplace for you. It's estimated that half the people in California buying insurance right now will be eligible for subsidies, and many of the uninsured will be eligible for subsidies as well.\u003cbr>\n\u003c!--more-->\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Covered California needs a mix of people\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's really important that Covered California has a mix of people entering its marketplace. Not just the sick people who have been denied insurance, but also healthy people, because the company needs to spread the risk around. If Covered California gets only sick people, then a year from now, insurance premiums could go up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California is reaching out to young, healthy people, and the more people that enroll, the bigger the pool, the more likely it is that Californians have reasonable premiums going forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you're thinking, \"Well, this doesn't really matter to me,\" you have to take a step back and think: If you lost your job-based insurance, and found yourself on the individual marketplace, you would want insurance premiums that you can afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California officials told me they would release some early enrollment numbers next week. As soon as we have the numbers, we'll share them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cstrong>[Related: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained -- A Guide for Californians\u003c/a>]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sign up deadline comes later this year\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's a finite enrollment period. It started Tuesday and runs through March 31 — to sign up for insurance that will be in effect through 2014. If you want health insurance on Jan. 1, you need to sign up by Dec. 15. After that, you must sign up by the 15\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> of the month and insurance will take effect the first of the following month, until March 31, when the door closes on the open-enrollment period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a press release early Tuesday evening, Covered California said it would take down the enrollment section of its website at 9 p.m. Tuesday until \"early Wednesday. This will help optimize performance\" for people logging on in the future, the release said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>*Correction: Earlier, KQED reported that Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee said Covered California's website received 10,000 hits a second. Later, Covered California reported the site at the peak received 16,000 page views per minute.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The ceremonial switch was thrown Tuesday morning at 8 a.m., and Covered California was open for business. By 4:30 p.m., officials said the Covered California website had received 5 million hits, plus call center wait times were 20-30 minutes.\r\n\r\nCovered California is the state's new health insurance marketplace, established as part of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15375\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/6865_transform.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-15375\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/6865_transform.jpg\" alt=\"A woman looks at the HealthCare.gov insurance exchange on October 1, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/6865_transform.jpg 640w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/6865_transform-400x225.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/6865_transform-320x180.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A woman looks at the HealthCare.gov insurance exchange on October 1, 2013, in Washington, DC. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The ceremonial switch was thrown Tuesday morning around 8 a.m., and Covered California was open for business. By 3 p.m., officials reported the Covered California website had received 5 million hits, averaging 5,000 per minute, and call center wait times were 20-30 minutes. Roughly 17,000 people called in to Covered California service centers by 3 p.m.*\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California is the state's new health insurance marketplace, established as part of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Call centers in California — and nationwide — have been jammed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lines weren't just long on the phone either. There was a sign-up event at Merritt College in Oakland Tuesday afternoon for community college students. KQED writer Ryder Diaz reported long wait times; students were having to leave and go to class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While today has been a very busy day, people do still have time to enroll. For insurance that will take effect Jan. 1, Californians need to enroll by Dec. 15.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a press event Tuesday morning, Covered California executive director Peter Lee struck an almost-euphoric note.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is the day where millions of people's dreams are going to come true,\" Lee said. \"This is a day when a hundred years of efforts by Republicans going back to Teddy Roosevelt, to Democrats like Teddy Kennedy, have been working to change America to make health care a right, not a privilege.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going forward, in California, rates may only be set according to three factors: your age, where you live and number of people in your family. No longer can your health status be taken into account or can you be turned down for health insurance because of a preexisting condition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED's Mina Kim spoke with Lisa Aliferis about Covered California's big day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F113443861\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Not everyone is affected \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you currently have job-based insurance or if you're on Medicare or Medi-Cal, nothing about your situation is going to change. But if you're buying your own insurance, Covered California is a new marketplace for you. It's estimated that half the people in California buying insurance right now will be eligible for subsidies, and many of the uninsured will be eligible for subsidies as well.\u003cbr>\n\u003c!--more-->\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Covered California needs a mix of people\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's really important that Covered California has a mix of people entering its marketplace. Not just the sick people who have been denied insurance, but also healthy people, because the company needs to spread the risk around. If Covered California gets only sick people, then a year from now, insurance premiums could go up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California is reaching out to young, healthy people, and the more people that enroll, the bigger the pool, the more likely it is that Californians have reasonable premiums going forward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if you're thinking, \"Well, this doesn't really matter to me,\" you have to take a step back and think: If you lost your job-based insurance, and found yourself on the individual marketplace, you would want insurance premiums that you can afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California officials told me they would release some early enrollment numbers next week. As soon as we have the numbers, we'll share them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cstrong>[Related: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained -- A Guide for Californians\u003c/a>]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sign up deadline comes later this year\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There's a finite enrollment period. It started Tuesday and runs through March 31 — to sign up for insurance that will be in effect through 2014. If you want health insurance on Jan. 1, you need to sign up by Dec. 15. After that, you must sign up by the 15\u003csup>th\u003c/sup> of the month and insurance will take effect the first of the following month, until March 31, when the door closes on the open-enrollment period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a press release early Tuesday evening, Covered California said it would take down the enrollment section of its website at 9 p.m. Tuesday until \"early Wednesday. This will help optimize performance\" for people logging on in the future, the release said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>*Correction: Earlier, KQED reported that Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee said Covered California's website received 10,000 hits a second. Later, Covered California reported the site at the peak received 16,000 page views per minute.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "For Immigrants, Language and Knowledge are Barriers in Obamacare Enrollment",
"title": "For Immigrants, Language and Knowledge are Barriers in Obamacare Enrollment",
"headTitle": "State of Health | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15338\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15338\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/Screen-Shot-2013-10-01-at-2.24.21-PM-640x297.png\" alt=\"Covered California opened for enrollment Tuesday morning. (Lisa Aliferis/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"297\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Covered California opened for enrollment Tuesday morning. (Lisa Aliferis/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Anna Gorman\u003c/strong>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/October/01/enrolling-immigrants-california-marketplace.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carrying Spanish-language brochures, outreach worker Sandra Pena walked around a crowded health clinic in Bell Gardens in Southern California early Tuesday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Have you heard of the program Obamacare?” Pena asked a group of patients. A few nodded. Others stared blankly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As enrollment began around the nation, the scene at this Wesley Health Center underscored one of the major challenges facing officials – overcoming the lack of awareness.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Some had never heard of the new law and few knew that Oct. 1 was the first day of enrollment.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Nearly all of the patients in the crowded waiting room were Latino, including several first-generation immigrants. Some had never heard of the new law and few knew that Oct. 1 was the first day of enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are tons of people who don’t know what’s going on today,” said Valerie Lopez, an outreach worker at the center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pena explained to the patients at the health center that starting Tuesday, they could sign up for new health coverage that would begin Jan. 1. Depending on their income, they would either qualify for free insurance through Medicaid (called Medi-Cal here) or for discounted private insurance through Covered California, the state’s online health insurance marketplace. And she warned about the penalty that most people who don’t have insurance would face in 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The patients asked many questions: Do I have to pay a fine if I am not working? Do I still qualify for Medi-Cal if I own a home? Are there people to help me fill out the application? Pena didn’t know all the answers, but she said people would be available soon to help with enrollment. There was no one at the center who could actually help people enroll. They are still being trained.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Obama administration is counting on outreach efforts to enroll Latinos and other immigrants. They tend to be younger than the general population, and so they balance out the costs of older, sicker people in the insurance pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting the information out to immigrants is an uphill battle, said Reshma Shamasunder, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center. Many speak little or no English. They also may live in mixed-status families, where some are eligible for new insurance options and others aren’t. And after years of deportations throughout immigrant communities, the distrust of government is high, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is going to be important to have trusted messengers in their communities,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health clinic administrators say they hope their staff members will be those messengers. “Once patients establish that rapport and that trust, they are going to look for us for information,” said Frances Bernabe, director of clinic operations for the Wesley Health Centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if they are successful with their outreach efforts, California officials know millions could remain uninsured. A UC Berkeley study last year found that as many as 4 million Californians could still be without insurance in 2019 and nearly three-quarters will be U.S. citizens or legal residents. Two-thirds remaining uninsured will be Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 1 million of those remaining uninsured will be immigrants not in the country legally, the study said. The law bars undocumented immigrants from getting insurance from the exchanges, even if they pay for it themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cstrong>[Related: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained — A Guide for Californians\u003c/a> (in English and Spanish)]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Celia Figueroa limped into the Bell Gardens clinic early Tuesday morning, hoping to see a doctor about a lingering pain in her knee. A doctor told her years ago that she needs surgery but Figueroa said she can’t afford it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Figueroa, 57, who is uninsured, said she has heard of the health law but doesn’t know what it does or if she qualifies for it. “I don’t know anything about Obamacare,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monica Delgado, 32, listened to the presentation by the outreach workers but knew none of it applied to her because she is in the country illegally. Delgado, who works as a housekeeper, said she feels frustrated that she can’t take advantage of the new coverage options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is unequal because it’s not for everybody,” she said. “But everybody gets sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delgado came to the clinic Tuesday morning because her daughter, who is covered by Medi-Cal, had a spider bite. Without insurance, she said she would continue relying on the clinic, where she can get care for free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an effort to get the word out to Latinos, Covered California is running ads in both English and Spanish, and officials have translated information about the new insurance options into Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California has also awarded millions in grants to organizations working with Latinos and other ethnic groups to help people to enroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday afternoon at another Los Angeles clinic, St. John's Well Child & Family Center, Maria Gomez, 58, said she pays in cash when she goes to the doctor or has to buy medication. Gomez, a legal resident from Mexico, came to the center for more information about the health law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she learned she would be eligible for expanded Medi-Cal coverage, she said. “Finally, I am going to have insurance. I feel happy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news organization covering health care policy and politics. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "As enrollment began around the nation, the scene at this Wesley Health Center underscored one of the major challenges facing officials – overcoming the lack of awareness.\r\n\r\nNearly all of the patients in the crowded waiting room were Latino, including several first-generation immigrants. Some had never heard of the new law and few knew that Oct. 1 was the first day of enrollment.",
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"title": "For Immigrants, Language and Knowledge are Barriers in Obamacare Enrollment | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15338\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15338\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/Screen-Shot-2013-10-01-at-2.24.21-PM-640x297.png\" alt=\"Covered California opened for enrollment Tuesday morning. (Lisa Aliferis/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"297\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Covered California opened for enrollment Tuesday morning. (Lisa Aliferis/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Anna Gorman\u003c/strong>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/October/01/enrolling-immigrants-california-marketplace.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Carrying Spanish-language brochures, outreach worker Sandra Pena walked around a crowded health clinic in Bell Gardens in Southern California early Tuesday morning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Have you heard of the program Obamacare?” Pena asked a group of patients. A few nodded. Others stared blankly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As enrollment began around the nation, the scene at this Wesley Health Center underscored one of the major challenges facing officials – overcoming the lack of awareness.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Some had never heard of the new law and few knew that Oct. 1 was the first day of enrollment.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Nearly all of the patients in the crowded waiting room were Latino, including several first-generation immigrants. Some had never heard of the new law and few knew that Oct. 1 was the first day of enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are tons of people who don’t know what’s going on today,” said Valerie Lopez, an outreach worker at the center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pena explained to the patients at the health center that starting Tuesday, they could sign up for new health coverage that would begin Jan. 1. Depending on their income, they would either qualify for free insurance through Medicaid (called Medi-Cal here) or for discounted private insurance through Covered California, the state’s online health insurance marketplace. And she warned about the penalty that most people who don’t have insurance would face in 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The patients asked many questions: Do I have to pay a fine if I am not working? Do I still qualify for Medi-Cal if I own a home? Are there people to help me fill out the application? Pena didn’t know all the answers, but she said people would be available soon to help with enrollment. There was no one at the center who could actually help people enroll. They are still being trained.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Obama administration is counting on outreach efforts to enroll Latinos and other immigrants. They tend to be younger than the general population, and so they balance out the costs of older, sicker people in the insurance pool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Getting the information out to immigrants is an uphill battle, said Reshma Shamasunder, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center. Many speak little or no English. They also may live in mixed-status families, where some are eligible for new insurance options and others aren’t. And after years of deportations throughout immigrant communities, the distrust of government is high, she added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is going to be important to have trusted messengers in their communities,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health clinic administrators say they hope their staff members will be those messengers. “Once patients establish that rapport and that trust, they are going to look for us for information,” said Frances Bernabe, director of clinic operations for the Wesley Health Centers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if they are successful with their outreach efforts, California officials know millions could remain uninsured. A UC Berkeley study last year found that as many as 4 million Californians could still be without insurance in 2019 and nearly three-quarters will be U.S. citizens or legal residents. Two-thirds remaining uninsured will be Latino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 1 million of those remaining uninsured will be immigrants not in the country legally, the study said. The law bars undocumented immigrants from getting insurance from the exchanges, even if they pay for it themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cstrong>[Related: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained — A Guide for Californians\u003c/a> (in English and Spanish)]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Celia Figueroa limped into the Bell Gardens clinic early Tuesday morning, hoping to see a doctor about a lingering pain in her knee. A doctor told her years ago that she needs surgery but Figueroa said she can’t afford it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Figueroa, 57, who is uninsured, said she has heard of the health law but doesn’t know what it does or if she qualifies for it. “I don’t know anything about Obamacare,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Monica Delgado, 32, listened to the presentation by the outreach workers but knew none of it applied to her because she is in the country illegally. Delgado, who works as a housekeeper, said she feels frustrated that she can’t take advantage of the new coverage options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is unequal because it’s not for everybody,” she said. “But everybody gets sick.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Delgado came to the clinic Tuesday morning because her daughter, who is covered by Medi-Cal, had a spider bite. Without insurance, she said she would continue relying on the clinic, where she can get care for free.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an effort to get the word out to Latinos, Covered California is running ads in both English and Spanish, and officials have translated information about the new insurance options into Spanish.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Covered California has also awarded millions in grants to organizations working with Latinos and other ethnic groups to help people to enroll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Monday afternoon at another Los Angeles clinic, St. John's Well Child & Family Center, Maria Gomez, 58, said she pays in cash when she goes to the doctor or has to buy medication. Gomez, a legal resident from Mexico, came to the center for more information about the health law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she learned she would be eligible for expanded Medi-Cal coverage, she said. “Finally, I am going to have insurance. I feel happy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news organization covering health care policy and politics. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Covered California, State's Obamacare Marketplace, Now Open; Has First Enrollee",
"title": "Covered California, State's Obamacare Marketplace, Now Open; Has First Enrollee",
"headTitle": "State of Health | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cscript type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\">\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15322\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15322\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/P_Lee-640x425.jpg\" alt=\"Covered California executive director Peter Lee speaking to advocates and reporters in San Francisco Tuesday morning. (Angela Hart/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"425\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Covered California executive director Peter Lee speaking to advocates and reporters in San Francisco Tuesday morning. (Angela Hart/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California's health heavy-hitters formally opened the state's health insurance marketplace, Covered California, Tuesday morning from its call center in Rancho Cordova. The federal government partial shutdown does not affect these health care exchanges nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Covered California is officially open for business,\" said Covered California executive director Peter Lee. \"We stand with thousands of Californians across the state as we kick off our effort to help educate and enroll millions of currently uninsured Californians.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 8:46 a.m., Covered California tweeted that one person is now formally on board:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\u003cp>We've had our first enrollee! Wooohooo! \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23CoveredCA&src=hash\">#CoveredCA\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GetCovered&src=hash\">#GetCovered\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Covered California (@CoveredCA) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CoveredCA/statuses/385068262683197440\">October 1, 2013\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>In theory, people who want to enroll can visit the \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com\" target=\"_blank\">Covered California website\u003c/a> and click on the yellow box \"Start Here.\" But in practice, the online sign-up is not loading (at least not for me, right now). People can also call to get information and enroll. The Covered California number is 1-800-300-1506\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a late morning press event in San Francisco, Lee explained why some people might be experiencing delays: Covered California is getting 10,000 hits every second, he said. (\u003cstrong>UPDATE 6pm\u003c/strong>: Covered California released corrected numbers. Lee misspoke at the event. Peak web traffic Tuesday was 16,000 hits per\u003cem> minute\u003c/em>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's more background from AP:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">Under the federal law, consumers who have previously been rejected for private insurance because of a pre-existing condition will be able to enroll, and those who cannot afford to buy their own insurance can receive government-subsidized premiums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think it's hard to overstate how big a change this is: People will no longer pay based on how sick they are, but on what they can afford based on a percentage of income. That's a transformational change in the way health care works,\" said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, which has advocated for greater health care coverage for the poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Affordable Care Act will dramatically change the way many Americans will get health insurance and marks the most extensive change to the nation's health care system since Medicare and Medicaid became law in 1965.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is being seen as a laboratory for the health care overhaul, and call center workers have been training for months to answer questions. The three call centers — in Concord, Fresno and the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova — already have been flooded with calls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Latinos, who make up nearly half of the 5.3 million uninsured Californians who are eligible to apply, have been expressing particular interest, said Santiago Lucero, a spokesman for Covered California. Lawfully present immigrants are eligible for the same benefits as citizens, but undocumented immigrants are not. They may not even buy insurance at Covered California with their own money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the significance of Tuesday's opening, officials do not expect a wave of applications immediately because comparing the available plans and filling out the application will be time-consuming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There are four different levels of health plans, and then within each level there are 12 different companies,\" to choose from, Lucero said. \"They have to pick which would best fit their financial and health needs. ... It may take some time before they make a decision.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beginning in 2014, virtually all Americans will be required to have health insurance or pay an annual penalty to the government. The penalty for an individual starts at $95 in 2014 but rises to a minimum of $695 by 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians who have health coverage through an employer will be largely unaffected by Tuesday's opening of the exchange, which is primarily for the poor, low-income earners, and individuals and families who already buy their own health insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Actual coverage through insurance purchased on the exchanges will start Jan. 1.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[Related: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Your Questions Answered Obamacare Explained — A Guide for Californians\u003c/a>]\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "California's health heavy-hitters formally opened the state's health insurance marketplace, Covered California, Tuesday morning from its call center in Rancho Cordova. The federal government partial shutdown does not affect these health care exchanges nationwide.\r\n\r\n\"Covered California is officially open for business,\" said Covered California executive director Peter Lee. \"We stand with thousands of Californians across the state as we kick off our effort to help educate and enroll millions of currently uninsured Californians.\"\r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cscript type=\"text/javascript\" src=\"http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\">\u003c/script>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15322\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15322\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/P_Lee-640x425.jpg\" alt=\"Covered California executive director Peter Lee speaking to advocates and reporters in San Francisco Tuesday morning. (Angela Hart/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"425\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Covered California executive director Peter Lee speaking to advocates and reporters in San Francisco Tuesday morning. (Angela Hart/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California's health heavy-hitters formally opened the state's health insurance marketplace, Covered California, Tuesday morning from its call center in Rancho Cordova. The federal government partial shutdown does not affect these health care exchanges nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Covered California is officially open for business,\" said Covered California executive director Peter Lee. \"We stand with thousands of Californians across the state as we kick off our effort to help educate and enroll millions of currently uninsured Californians.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 8:46 a.m., Covered California tweeted that one person is now formally on board:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\u003cp>We've had our first enrollee! Wooohooo! \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23CoveredCA&src=hash\">#CoveredCA\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23GetCovered&src=hash\">#GetCovered\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Covered California (@CoveredCA) \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CoveredCA/statuses/385068262683197440\">October 1, 2013\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>In theory, people who want to enroll can visit the \u003ca href=\"https://www.coveredca.com\" target=\"_blank\">Covered California website\u003c/a> and click on the yellow box \"Start Here.\" But in practice, the online sign-up is not loading (at least not for me, right now). People can also call to get information and enroll. The Covered California number is 1-800-300-1506\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a late morning press event in San Francisco, Lee explained why some people might be experiencing delays: Covered California is getting 10,000 hits every second, he said. (\u003cstrong>UPDATE 6pm\u003c/strong>: Covered California released corrected numbers. Lee misspoke at the event. Peak web traffic Tuesday was 16,000 hits per\u003cem> minute\u003c/em>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here's more background from AP:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">Under the federal law, consumers who have previously been rejected for private insurance because of a pre-existing condition will be able to enroll, and those who cannot afford to buy their own insurance can receive government-subsidized premiums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think it's hard to overstate how big a change this is: People will no longer pay based on how sick they are, but on what they can afford based on a percentage of income. That's a transformational change in the way health care works,\" said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, which has advocated for greater health care coverage for the poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Affordable Care Act will dramatically change the way many Americans will get health insurance and marks the most extensive change to the nation's health care system since Medicare and Medicaid became law in 1965.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is being seen as a laboratory for the health care overhaul, and call center workers have been training for months to answer questions. The three call centers — in Concord, Fresno and the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova — already have been flooded with calls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Latinos, who make up nearly half of the 5.3 million uninsured Californians who are eligible to apply, have been expressing particular interest, said Santiago Lucero, a spokesman for Covered California. Lawfully present immigrants are eligible for the same benefits as citizens, but undocumented immigrants are not. They may not even buy insurance at Covered California with their own money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite the significance of Tuesday's opening, officials do not expect a wave of applications immediately because comparing the available plans and filling out the application will be time-consuming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There are four different levels of health plans, and then within each level there are 12 different companies,\" to choose from, Lucero said. \"They have to pick which would best fit their financial and health needs. ... It may take some time before they make a decision.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beginning in 2014, virtually all Americans will be required to have health insurance or pay an annual penalty to the government. The penalty for an individual starts at $95 in 2014 but rises to a minimum of $695 by 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians who have health coverage through an employer will be largely unaffected by Tuesday's opening of the exchange, which is primarily for the poor, low-income earners, and individuals and families who already buy their own health insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Actual coverage through insurance purchased on the exchanges will start Jan. 1.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[Related: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Your Questions Answered Obamacare Explained — A Guide for Californians\u003c/a>]\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Lessons for the Obamacare Rollout, Courtesy of Massachusetts",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15297\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/57327920-640x500.jpg\" alt=\"Mitt Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, signs the state's health care reform bill into law in April, 2006. Sen. Ted Kennedy (2nd from right) and others look on. ( Joe Raedle/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"500\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mitt Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, signs the state's health care reform bill into law in April 2006. Sen. Ted Kennedy (3rd from right) and others look on. ( Joe Raedle/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Richard Knox, NPR\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today marks a milestone on the nation's long march toward universal health coverage: the launch of online marketplaces, called exchanges, designed to help people find insurance they can afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's an idea \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5330854\">pioneered\u003c/a> by Massachusetts seven years ago. People here call their program a success, and say the state's exchange was an indispensable factor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those involved since the beginning say the Massachusetts health insurance exchange, called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.mahealthconnector.org/\">Connector\u003c/a>, was the brainchild of \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5330792\">former Gov. Mitt Romney\u003c/a>, a Republican.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glen Shor, who once ran the Connector and is now the state's secretary of administration and finance, is confident that the nation will follow Massachusetts' lead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"As the [federal] law begins to be implemented,\" Shor said, \"people will see and feel its positive effects. They'll be able to see through some of the rhetoric and spin.\"\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Connector opened for business in late 2006, people signed up\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19266657\"> much faster than projected\u003c/a>. Within a year there were 367,000 newly insured citizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Enrollment was fast,\" Shor said. \"One of the clear lessons of the Massachusetts experience is that people want affordable health insurance.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, 97 percent of the state's 6.6 million people have it — the highest coverage rate of anywhere in America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Shor says Obamacare will bring another 45,000 new people into the fold — those working in low-wage jobs who will qualify for an expansion of MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That group represents \"roughly a quarter of the remaining uninsured,\" said Shor. \"A big deal.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands more will become eligible for premium subsidies because they make under $46,000 a year (for an individual) or $94,000 (for a family of four). That will bring Massachusetts pretty close to advocates' longtime dream of universal coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's a fight that's worth fighting, and I think ultimately it will be won,\" Shor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003cp>“One of the clear lessons of the Massachusetts experience is that people want affordable health insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>- Glen Shor, secretary of the Massachusetts Office for Administration and Finance\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>But not everybody in Massachusetts is quite so optimistic. Rick Lord is president of \u003ca href=\"http://www.aimnet.org/\">Associated Industries of Massachusetts\u003c/a>, a prominent business group. He was also a leader in the broad bipartisan coalition of business, consumers, health care providers and insurers that resulted in what some here still call Romneycare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think Massachusetts got health care reform right,\" said Lord, adding that members of his group are proud that the state is committed to expanding health coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Lord points out that anything as complicated as health care reform is going to need some tinkering along the way. In Massachusetts, the Legislature passed without controversy three technical corrections after the law was passed. Lord doesn't see how Congress could do that with Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"No amendment to the Affordable Care Act will be passed for fear that the whole act will unravel,\" he says. And that makes him more than a little worried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I'm feeling a little pessimistic about how it's going to play out in Washington,\" Lord said. \"If it's not successful at all, I worry that will doom the prospects for revisiting this in the short term, [or] even the medium.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for now, the fate of Obamacare depends on whether enough Americans vote with their feet in the coming three months, when those who want coverage under the law must choose a plan in order to be covered on Jan. 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That's the big question,\" said Brian Rosman, research director of \u003ca href=\"http://www.hcfama.org/\">Health Care for All\u003c/a>, Massachusetts' leading health consumer group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Will people jump over the negative publicity and go out and seek health care for themselves because it's in their interest?\" Rosman wondered. \"Our experience in Massachusetts is that they're going to sign up.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosman's colleague Kate Bicego thinks people across the country will too. She manages consumer assistance for Health Care for All.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bicego has been getting a lot of calls from officials in other states who are scrambling to set up exchanges. She's also hearing from consumers outside Massachusetts. She's heard just about every question, worry and rant about the new exchanges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People don't know what Obamacare is,\" Bicego told Shots, the online health channel from the NPR Science Desk. \"Most people have filled their heads with a lot of misinformation about what the law actually requires of people and what the law offers.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bicego thinks there's only so much anybody can do in advance to dispel misconceptions. She says it's only when people can get their hands on information that matters to them that proponents can cut through the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her experience, a lot of people are surprised to hear that there are health plans they can afford; that many people qualify for help in paying the premiums; and that they're not going to be penalized on their taxes for not buying something they can't afford. But getting that across takes time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Once I talk to them for about an hour about 'This is actually what the law does,' people are just as excited as I am about what this means,\" Bicego said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Rosman predicts that the nation will turn a corner in January when millions of people start to see what it's like to have coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Once people start getting benefits and it becomes part of the infrastructure of how our health care system works,\" he said, \"the repeal effort will fade away.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's what happened a generation ago with Medicare and Medicaid. They were pretty controversial, too.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Today marks a milestone on the nation's long march toward universal health coverage: the launch of online marketplaces, called exchanges, designed to help people find insurance they can afford.\r\n\r\nIt's an idea pioneered by Massachusetts seven years ago. People here call their program a success, and say the state's exchange was an indispensable factor.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15297\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15297\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/10/57327920-640x500.jpg\" alt=\"Mitt Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, signs the state's health care reform bill into law in April, 2006. Sen. Ted Kennedy (2nd from right) and others look on. ( Joe Raedle/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"500\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mitt Romney, as governor of Massachusetts, signs the state's health care reform bill into law in April 2006. Sen. Ted Kennedy (3rd from right) and others look on. ( Joe Raedle/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Richard Knox, NPR\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today marks a milestone on the nation's long march toward universal health coverage: the launch of online marketplaces, called exchanges, designed to help people find insurance they can afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's an idea \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5330854\">pioneered\u003c/a> by Massachusetts seven years ago. People here call their program a success, and say the state's exchange was an indispensable factor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those involved since the beginning say the Massachusetts health insurance exchange, called the \u003ca href=\"https://www.mahealthconnector.org/\">Connector\u003c/a>, was the brainchild of \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5330792\">former Gov. Mitt Romney\u003c/a>, a Republican.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Glen Shor, who once ran the Connector and is now the state's secretary of administration and finance, is confident that the nation will follow Massachusetts' lead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"As the [federal] law begins to be implemented,\" Shor said, \"people will see and feel its positive effects. They'll be able to see through some of the rhetoric and spin.\"\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Connector opened for business in late 2006, people signed up\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19266657\"> much faster than projected\u003c/a>. Within a year there were 367,000 newly insured citizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Enrollment was fast,\" Shor said. \"One of the clear lessons of the Massachusetts experience is that people want affordable health insurance.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, 97 percent of the state's 6.6 million people have it — the highest coverage rate of anywhere in America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And Shor says Obamacare will bring another 45,000 new people into the fold — those working in low-wage jobs who will qualify for an expansion of MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That group represents \"roughly a quarter of the remaining uninsured,\" said Shor. \"A big deal.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands more will become eligible for premium subsidies because they make under $46,000 a year (for an individual) or $94,000 (for a family of four). That will bring Massachusetts pretty close to advocates' longtime dream of universal coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It's a fight that's worth fighting, and I think ultimately it will be won,\" Shor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003cp>“One of the clear lessons of the Massachusetts experience is that people want affordable health insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>- Glen Shor, secretary of the Massachusetts Office for Administration and Finance\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>But not everybody in Massachusetts is quite so optimistic. Rick Lord is president of \u003ca href=\"http://www.aimnet.org/\">Associated Industries of Massachusetts\u003c/a>, a prominent business group. He was also a leader in the broad bipartisan coalition of business, consumers, health care providers and insurers that resulted in what some here still call Romneycare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I think Massachusetts got health care reform right,\" said Lord, adding that members of his group are proud that the state is committed to expanding health coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Lord points out that anything as complicated as health care reform is going to need some tinkering along the way. In Massachusetts, the Legislature passed without controversy three technical corrections after the law was passed. Lord doesn't see how Congress could do that with Obamacare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"No amendment to the Affordable Care Act will be passed for fear that the whole act will unravel,\" he says. And that makes him more than a little worried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I'm feeling a little pessimistic about how it's going to play out in Washington,\" Lord said. \"If it's not successful at all, I worry that will doom the prospects for revisiting this in the short term, [or] even the medium.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But for now, the fate of Obamacare depends on whether enough Americans vote with their feet in the coming three months, when those who want coverage under the law must choose a plan in order to be covered on Jan. 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"That's the big question,\" said Brian Rosman, research director of \u003ca href=\"http://www.hcfama.org/\">Health Care for All\u003c/a>, Massachusetts' leading health consumer group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Will people jump over the negative publicity and go out and seek health care for themselves because it's in their interest?\" Rosman wondered. \"Our experience in Massachusetts is that they're going to sign up.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rosman's colleague Kate Bicego thinks people across the country will too. She manages consumer assistance for Health Care for All.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bicego has been getting a lot of calls from officials in other states who are scrambling to set up exchanges. She's also hearing from consumers outside Massachusetts. She's heard just about every question, worry and rant about the new exchanges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People don't know what Obamacare is,\" Bicego told Shots, the online health channel from the NPR Science Desk. \"Most people have filled their heads with a lot of misinformation about what the law actually requires of people and what the law offers.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bicego thinks there's only so much anybody can do in advance to dispel misconceptions. She says it's only when people can get their hands on information that matters to them that proponents can cut through the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her experience, a lot of people are surprised to hear that there are health plans they can afford; that many people qualify for help in paying the premiums; and that they're not going to be penalized on their taxes for not buying something they can't afford. But getting that across takes time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Once I talk to them for about an hour about 'This is actually what the law does,' people are just as excited as I am about what this means,\" Bicego said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Rosman predicts that the nation will turn a corner in January when millions of people start to see what it's like to have coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Once people start getting benefits and it becomes part of the infrastructure of how our health care system works,\" he said, \"the repeal effort will fade away.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That's what happened a generation ago with Medicare and Medicaid. They were pretty controversial, too.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Government Shutdown or Not, Covered California Opens Tuesday; 5 FAQs Answered",
"title": "Government Shutdown or Not, Covered California Opens Tuesday; 5 FAQs Answered",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15287\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15287\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/photo-MarkChekal_Bain-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"Mark Chekal-Bain, district director for Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland), discusses the benefits of the Affordable Care Act at Lifelong Medical Health Center. (Lisa Aliferis/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark Chekal-Bain, district director for Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland), discusses the benefits of the Affordable Care Act at Lifelong Medical Health Center in Oakland. (Lisa Aliferis/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"California is open for business,\" crowed Mark Chekal-Bain at an event hosted by Lifelong Health Center, a medical clinic in downtown Oakland. Chekal-Bain works with Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday is D-Day for Covered California. At 8 a.m., the marketplace is scheduled to open for enrollment, more than three-and-a-half years after passage of the Affordable Care Act. Even if Congress can't come to agreement about the federal budget, the federal government will only partially shut down. The marketplaces will open as scheduled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We will be enrolling people into affordable health care,\" Chekal-Bain said, including Medi-Cal and private insurance plans available on the marketplace. \"All of us at the local, state and county levels are committed to helping you.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cstrong>[Related:\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/10/01/covered-california-states-obamacare-marketplace-now-open-has-first-enrollee/\" target=\"_blank\"> Covered California Is Now Open, Has First Enrollee\u003c/a>]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A handful of government types and advocates spoke, but perhaps the most moving was Amy Shrago. She's a legislative analyst with Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, but she has a personal connection to Obamacare.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schrago's father died two years ago. Her mother has been buying health insurance for herself and Schrago's two teenage brothers — and paying $1,200 a month in premiums. \"Starting tomorrow, she'll be able to register with Covered California and get premium assistance for the three of them that will cut her payment in half,\" Schrago said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland crowd seemed pretty well-informed, but on the eve of the opening, here are five common questions, answered:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1) What do I need to do? \u003c/strong>If you already have insurance through your job or a public program such as Medi-Cal or Medicare, \u003cem>you don't need to do anything\u003c/em>. You already have insurance and nothing about your situation will change. The new marketplace is for people who are uninsured or who are buying insurance for themselves or their families, people like Schrago's mother. About half of people currently buying insurance on their own are expected to get a subsidy, according to \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/quantifying-tax-credits-for-people-now-buying-insurance-on-their-own/\" target=\"_blank\">a study\u003c/a> from the Kaiser Family Foundation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2) How much will the insurance cost me? \u003c/strong>If you are one of those people buying insurance on the individual market, you can calculate your premium on the \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/shopandcompare/\" target=\"_blank\">Covered California website\u003c/a>. Insurance companies can only use three factors to set premiums: your age, where you live and number of people in your family. Statewide, the average premium is about $375, but that will vary according to those three factors, plus the level of coverage you choose. Be sure to pay attention to details, because some of the cheaper plans have higher deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cstrong>[Related: KQED's \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained: A Guide for Californians\u003c/a>]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3) What about subsidies? \u003c/strong>People earning from 138-400 percent of poverty (roughly $15,500-$46,000 for an individual; $32,000-$94,000 for a family of four) are eligible for subsidies. Again, the\u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/shopandcompare/\" target=\"_blank\"> premium calculator\u003c/a> on Covered California will show how much of a subsidy you may qualify for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>4)\u003c/strong> \u003cstrong>What about Medi-Cal? \u003c/strong>If your income is below 138 percent of poverty, you are eligible for the Medi-Cal expansion. Right now, people who are not disabled and do not have children are not eligible for Medi-Cal — no matter how low their income is. Starting Jan. 1, these childless adults will be eligible for the federal-state health insurance program, if their income is low enough to qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>5) Why do I need to buy health insurance, anyway? \u003c/strong>The Affordable Care Act includes an individual mandate that requires \u003ca href=\"http://www.irs.gov/uac/Questions-and-Answers-on-the-Individual-Shared-Responsibility-Provision\" target=\"_blank\">just about everyone\u003c/a> to have health insurance or pay a penalty. In 2014, that penalty is $95 or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater. But the penalty goes up from there to $695 or 2.5 percent of income in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Kaiser Family Foundation \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-september-2013/\" target=\"_blank\">poll released over the weekend\u003c/a> showed just over half the public (51 percent to be exact) said they don't have enough information to understand how the law will impact their family. If that's you, check out our straightforward guide, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained\u003c/a> — just for Californians.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Tuesday is D-Day for Covered California. At 8 a.m., the marketplace is scheduled to open for enrollment, more than three-and-a-half years after passage of the Affordable Care Act. Even if Congress can't come to agreement about the federal budget, the federal government will only partially shut down. The marketplaces will open as scheduled.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15287\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15287\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/photo-MarkChekal_Bain-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"Mark Chekal-Bain, district director for Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland), discusses the benefits of the Affordable Care Act at Lifelong Medical Health Center. (Lisa Aliferis/KQED)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark Chekal-Bain, district director for Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland), discusses the benefits of the Affordable Care Act at Lifelong Medical Health Center in Oakland. (Lisa Aliferis/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"California is open for business,\" crowed Mark Chekal-Bain at an event hosted by Lifelong Health Center, a medical clinic in downtown Oakland. Chekal-Bain works with Assemblymember Nancy Skinner (D-Oakland).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tuesday is D-Day for Covered California. At 8 a.m., the marketplace is scheduled to open for enrollment, more than three-and-a-half years after passage of the Affordable Care Act. Even if Congress can't come to agreement about the federal budget, the federal government will only partially shut down. The marketplaces will open as scheduled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"We will be enrolling people into affordable health care,\" Chekal-Bain said, including Medi-Cal and private insurance plans available on the marketplace. \"All of us at the local, state and county levels are committed to helping you.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cstrong>[Related:\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/10/01/covered-california-states-obamacare-marketplace-now-open-has-first-enrollee/\" target=\"_blank\"> Covered California Is Now Open, Has First Enrollee\u003c/a>]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A handful of government types and advocates spoke, but perhaps the most moving was Amy Shrago. She's a legislative analyst with Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, but she has a personal connection to Obamacare.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schrago's father died two years ago. Her mother has been buying health insurance for herself and Schrago's two teenage brothers — and paying $1,200 a month in premiums. \"Starting tomorrow, she'll be able to register with Covered California and get premium assistance for the three of them that will cut her payment in half,\" Schrago said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland crowd seemed pretty well-informed, but on the eve of the opening, here are five common questions, answered:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>1) What do I need to do? \u003c/strong>If you already have insurance through your job or a public program such as Medi-Cal or Medicare, \u003cem>you don't need to do anything\u003c/em>. You already have insurance and nothing about your situation will change. The new marketplace is for people who are uninsured or who are buying insurance for themselves or their families, people like Schrago's mother. About half of people currently buying insurance on their own are expected to get a subsidy, according to \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/quantifying-tax-credits-for-people-now-buying-insurance-on-their-own/\" target=\"_blank\">a study\u003c/a> from the Kaiser Family Foundation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>2) How much will the insurance cost me? \u003c/strong>If you are one of those people buying insurance on the individual market, you can calculate your premium on the \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/shopandcompare/\" target=\"_blank\">Covered California website\u003c/a>. Insurance companies can only use three factors to set premiums: your age, where you live and number of people in your family. Statewide, the average premium is about $375, but that will vary according to those three factors, plus the level of coverage you choose. Be sure to pay attention to details, because some of the cheaper plans have higher deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cstrong>[Related: KQED's \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained: A Guide for Californians\u003c/a>]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>3) What about subsidies? \u003c/strong>People earning from 138-400 percent of poverty (roughly $15,500-$46,000 for an individual; $32,000-$94,000 for a family of four) are eligible for subsidies. Again, the\u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/shopandcompare/\" target=\"_blank\"> premium calculator\u003c/a> on Covered California will show how much of a subsidy you may qualify for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>4)\u003c/strong> \u003cstrong>What about Medi-Cal? \u003c/strong>If your income is below 138 percent of poverty, you are eligible for the Medi-Cal expansion. Right now, people who are not disabled and do not have children are not eligible for Medi-Cal — no matter how low their income is. Starting Jan. 1, these childless adults will be eligible for the federal-state health insurance program, if their income is low enough to qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>5) Why do I need to buy health insurance, anyway? \u003c/strong>The Affordable Care Act includes an individual mandate that requires \u003ca href=\"http://www.irs.gov/uac/Questions-and-Answers-on-the-Individual-Shared-Responsibility-Provision\" target=\"_blank\">just about everyone\u003c/a> to have health insurance or pay a penalty. In 2014, that penalty is $95 or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater. But the penalty goes up from there to $695 or 2.5 percent of income in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A Kaiser Family Foundation \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/health-reform/poll-finding/kaiser-health-tracking-poll-september-2013/\" target=\"_blank\">poll released over the weekend\u003c/a> showed just over half the public (51 percent to be exact) said they don't have enough information to understand how the law will impact their family. If that's you, check out our straightforward guide, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained\u003c/a> — just for Californians.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Days Away From Signing-up, Many Californians Still Don't Understand Obamacare",
"title": "Days Away From Signing-up, Many Californians Still Don't Understand Obamacare",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15250\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/RS6831_180251518-hpf.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-15250\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/RS6831_180251518-hpf.jpg\" alt=\"Women knit as they attend a Senior Information & Resource Fair in South Gate, California September 10, 2013 . The event included a discussion of how the Affordable Care Act, also called 'Obamacare' will impact senior citizens and what insurance plans will be available to them. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/RS6831_180251518-hpf.jpg 640w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/RS6831_180251518-hpf-400x266.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/RS6831_180251518-hpf-320x213.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Women knit as they attend a Senior Information & Resource Fair in South Gate, California September 10, 2013 . The event included a discussion of how the Affordable Care Act, also called 'Obamacare' will impact senior citizens and what insurance plans will be available to them. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In five days, a key piece of the Affordable Care Act goes live in California — the state-run insurance marketplace Covered California. Yet, most Californians eligible to participate, are confused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/09/26/3-out-of-4-uninsured-californians-eligible-but-unaware-of-obamacare-benefits/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation survey\u003c/a> released Thursday, finds three in four state residents eligible for government-subsidized private plans are either unaware they quality, or wrongly believe they don't qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This survey was taken just about a month ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED's Mina Kim spoke to Mollyann Brodie, the Director of Public Opinion and Survey Research and Senior Vice President for Executive Operations at Kaiser Family Foundation, about the survey.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003cdiv class=\"embedly\">\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F112688626&show_artwork=true&maxwidth=900\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"620\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"embedly-clear\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003ca title=\"Powered by Embedly\" href=\"http://embed.ly?src=anywhere\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cimg src=\"http://static.embed.ly/images/logos/embedly-powered-small-light.png\" alt=\"Embedly Powered\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media-attribution\">via \u003ca class=\"media-attribution-link\" href=\"http://soundcloud.com\" target=\"_blank\">SoundCloud\u003c/a>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"embedly-clear\">\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lack of knowledge goes both ways\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This lack of knowledge cuts both ways. On the one hand there’s going to be a lot of Californians who are going to be surprised to learn that they actually are going to get help paying for their health care coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"But on the other hand as you’re pointing out about half of undocumented immigrants who are uninsured told us that they actually believed that they were going to be eligible for help under the ACA and they actually were optimistic that they were going to get help with their health care and of course the law doesn’t extend to undocumented immigrants.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It's a challenge to inform people, but not to enroll them\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It’s going to be this challenge of getting people aware of what programs they’re eligible for and where they can actually get help getting coverage. But it’s not going to be a challenge in terms of whether people are going to want to enroll in the program. These people who are going to be eligible for Medi-Cal are actually very favorable towards it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Up until this point views about the law have really just been based on what people have heard through the media or through the political debates and everything’s been mostly a political football.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"But now starting October 1st as people can actually enroll in the coverage provisions we start seeing the very major provisions of the law. The ones that actually affect people in their day to day life taking effect. I think by tracking the people who the law can in many ways most help, it sheds light on what it really means for families and whether it’s helping them or not helping them.\"\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15250\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/RS6831_180251518-hpf.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-full wp-image-15250\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/RS6831_180251518-hpf.jpg\" alt=\"Women knit as they attend a Senior Information & Resource Fair in South Gate, California September 10, 2013 . The event included a discussion of how the Affordable Care Act, also called 'Obamacare' will impact senior citizens and what insurance plans will be available to them. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/RS6831_180251518-hpf.jpg 640w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/RS6831_180251518-hpf-400x266.jpg 400w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/RS6831_180251518-hpf-320x213.jpg 320w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Women knit as they attend a Senior Information & Resource Fair in South Gate, California September 10, 2013 . The event included a discussion of how the Affordable Care Act, also called 'Obamacare' will impact senior citizens and what insurance plans will be available to them. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In five days, a key piece of the Affordable Care Act goes live in California — the state-run insurance marketplace Covered California. Yet, most Californians eligible to participate, are confused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/09/26/3-out-of-4-uninsured-californians-eligible-but-unaware-of-obamacare-benefits/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation survey\u003c/a> released Thursday, finds three in four state residents eligible for government-subsidized private plans are either unaware they quality, or wrongly believe they don't qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This survey was taken just about a month ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED's Mina Kim spoke to Mollyann Brodie, the Director of Public Opinion and Survey Research and Senior Vice President for Executive Operations at Kaiser Family Foundation, about the survey.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv>\n\u003cdiv class=\"embedly\">\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F112688626&show_artwork=true&maxwidth=900\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"620\" height=\"166\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"embedly-clear\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003ca title=\"Powered by Embedly\" href=\"http://embed.ly?src=anywhere\" target=\"_blank\">\u003cimg src=\"http://static.embed.ly/images/logos/embedly-powered-small-light.png\" alt=\"Embedly Powered\">\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"media-attribution\">via \u003ca class=\"media-attribution-link\" href=\"http://soundcloud.com\" target=\"_blank\">SoundCloud\u003c/a>\u003c/div>\n\u003cdiv class=\"embedly-clear\">\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lack of knowledge goes both ways\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This lack of knowledge cuts both ways. On the one hand there’s going to be a lot of Californians who are going to be surprised to learn that they actually are going to get help paying for their health care coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"But on the other hand as you’re pointing out about half of undocumented immigrants who are uninsured told us that they actually believed that they were going to be eligible for help under the ACA and they actually were optimistic that they were going to get help with their health care and of course the law doesn’t extend to undocumented immigrants.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It's a challenge to inform people, but not to enroll them\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"It’s going to be this challenge of getting people aware of what programs they’re eligible for and where they can actually get help getting coverage. But it’s not going to be a challenge in terms of whether people are going to want to enroll in the program. These people who are going to be eligible for Medi-Cal are actually very favorable towards it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Up until this point views about the law have really just been based on what people have heard through the media or through the political debates and everything’s been mostly a political football.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"But now starting October 1st as people can actually enroll in the coverage provisions we start seeing the very major provisions of the law. The ones that actually affect people in their day to day life taking effect. I think by tracking the people who the law can in many ways most help, it sheds light on what it really means for families and whether it’s helping them or not helping them.\"\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "3 Out of 4 Uninsured Californians Eligible, But Unaware of Obamacare Benefits",
"title": "3 Out of 4 Uninsured Californians Eligible, But Unaware of Obamacare Benefits",
"headTitle": "State of Health | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15231\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15231\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/139379802-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"(Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Sarah Varney,\u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/September/26/uninsured-Californians-new-era-of-coverage.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"> Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As uninsured Californians head into a new era of health coverage, they're worried about costs and unaware of the help they'll get from the government, a new survey finds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/health-reform/report/californias-uninsured-on-the-eve-of-aca-open-enrollment\" target=\"_blank\">survey\u003c/a>, by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that three out of four Californians who earn modest incomes and could buy government-subsidized private coverage wrongly believe they're not eligible for federal assistance or simply don't know if they qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, many undocumented immigrants, who constitute about a fifth of the state's uninsured population, erroneously believe they will be eligible for coverage. The law specifically bars them from getting coverage from the state's new health insurance marketplace, which opens next Tuesday, for coverage beginning Jan.1, 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This has been, for so long, a political debate,\" said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a Sacramento-based consumer advocacy group. \"We're just starting to move it into a practical reality. Now that the benefits are close at hand, there is a concerted effort to educate people about what their benefits are.\"\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is one of two dozen states preparing to dramatically expand Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in California), the federal-state insurance program for the poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the survey found only half of newly eligible low-income Californians assume they will qualify. The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed some 2,000 uninsured Californians from mid-July until the end of August, a summertime lull before a burst of planned advertising and outreach efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There is a lot of confusion about the messaging in the news and at the federal level,\" said Sonya Vasquez, policy director for Community Health Councils, a Los Angeles-based group that is part of a statewide enrollment effort getting underway. \"With the enrollment program, that is going to shift.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cstrong>[Related Content: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained -- A Guide for Californians\u003c/a>]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of health coverage will likely be a key factor in the law's adoption: The survey found 57 percent of California's uninsured say they have little financial security, and 64 percent report forgoing needed medical care because of cost, including skipping recommended treatments and leaving prescriptions unfilled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Having health insurance is important, but economically it was not possible,\" said survey respondent Lissette Melgar, 46, who has been uninsured since her divorce five years ago. \"I began to have a pain in my back, and I need health insurance for this.\" Melgar, who lives in Tracy (San Joaquin County), will likely qualify for Medi-Cal given her low income. She said, in Spanish, that she understands the health care system is changing, \"but (I) don't know how.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state's health insurance marketplace, \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/\">Covered California\u003c/a>, began airing television advertisements in several small markets earlier this month, and expects to be on the airwaves in major markets, such as Los Angeles, in October. Anxiety over the cost of coverage \"reminds us that we have to push forward on the message that the plans are affordable,\" Vasquez said, \"and some people may not have to pay hardly anything, if at all\" if they \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/\" target=\"_blank\">qualify for subsidies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health policy experts were buoyed by the uninsured's strong desire for coverage: Eight in 10 of those eligible under the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion feel they need health insurance and 57 percent believe health insurance is worth the money. \"That tells me that people do value health coverage and will take action to get themselves covered if it's affordable,\" said Michael Cousineau, a professor at the University of Southern California's school of medicine. \"I just don't think it's going to happen overnight.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Undocumented immigrants have misplaced expectations of the Affordable Care Act, according to the survey. The law specifically forbids illegal immigrants from buying insurance in the state exchanges, and they are already barred from enrolling in Medi-Cal. Yet the survey found 49 percent believe they may qualify for Medi-Cal and 43 percent expect to shop for coverage on the exchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sindi Duarte, an undocumented immigrant from Antioch, has not seen any ads about the coverage expansion. \"I don't know much about it,\" said Duarte, 19, who was born in Guatemala and entered the United States with her parents when she was 2. She recently received a permit to remain in the U.S. under an immigration policy adopted last June by President Barack Obama, and in April was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She is receiving some care for her condition, but has no health insurance. She is uncertain if the law will help her. \"I thought I was (eligible for insurance), but I’m not completely sure.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The survey is unusual in that the foundation expects to track the same pool of people, who are entering the open enrollment period uninsured, for as long as two years to assess the effectiveness of the Medi-Cal expansion and Covered California, the new insurance marketplace meant to ease the burden of buying health coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Only through a poll like this can we see what Obamacare means for real people,\" said Mollyann Brodie, director of public opinion and survey research at the foundation. \"Is it impacting their lives? Is it helping or not? What's working and not working about the law?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news organization covering health care policy and politics. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The survey, by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that three out of four Californians who earn modest incomes and could buy government-subsidized private coverage believe, wrongly, that they're not eligible for federal assistance or they simply don't know if they qualify.\r\n\r\nIn addition, many undocumented immigrants, who comprise about a fifth of the state's uninsured population, erroneously believe they will be eligible for coverage",
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"description": "The survey, by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that three out of four Californians who earn modest incomes and could buy government-subsidized private coverage believe, wrongly, that they're not eligible for federal assistance or they simply don't know if they qualify.\r\n\r\nIn addition, many undocumented immigrants, who comprise about a fifth of the state's uninsured population, erroneously believe they will be eligible for coverage",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15231\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15231\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/139379802-640x426.jpg\" alt=\"(Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Sarah Varney,\u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/September/26/uninsured-Californians-new-era-of-coverage.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"> Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As uninsured Californians head into a new era of health coverage, they're worried about costs and unaware of the help they'll get from the government, a new survey finds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/health-reform/report/californias-uninsured-on-the-eve-of-aca-open-enrollment\" target=\"_blank\">survey\u003c/a>, by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that three out of four Californians who earn modest incomes and could buy government-subsidized private coverage wrongly believe they're not eligible for federal assistance or simply don't know if they qualify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, many undocumented immigrants, who constitute about a fifth of the state's uninsured population, erroneously believe they will be eligible for coverage. The law specifically bars them from getting coverage from the state's new health insurance marketplace, which opens next Tuesday, for coverage beginning Jan.1, 2014.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This has been, for so long, a political debate,\" said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access, a Sacramento-based consumer advocacy group. \"We're just starting to move it into a practical reality. Now that the benefits are close at hand, there is a concerted effort to educate people about what their benefits are.\"\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California is one of two dozen states preparing to dramatically expand Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in California), the federal-state insurance program for the poor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the survey found only half of newly eligible low-income Californians assume they will qualify. The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed some 2,000 uninsured Californians from mid-July until the end of August, a summertime lull before a burst of planned advertising and outreach efforts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There is a lot of confusion about the messaging in the news and at the federal level,\" said Sonya Vasquez, policy director for Community Health Councils, a Los Angeles-based group that is part of a statewide enrollment effort getting underway. \"With the enrollment program, that is going to shift.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center\">\u003cstrong>[Related Content: \u003ca href=\"http://www.kqed.org/news/health/obamacare/obamacare-guide.jsp\" target=\"_blank\">Obamacare Explained -- A Guide for Californians\u003c/a>]\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of health coverage will likely be a key factor in the law's adoption: The survey found 57 percent of California's uninsured say they have little financial security, and 64 percent report forgoing needed medical care because of cost, including skipping recommended treatments and leaving prescriptions unfilled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Having health insurance is important, but economically it was not possible,\" said survey respondent Lissette Melgar, 46, who has been uninsured since her divorce five years ago. \"I began to have a pain in my back, and I need health insurance for this.\" Melgar, who lives in Tracy (San Joaquin County), will likely qualify for Medi-Cal given her low income. She said, in Spanish, that she understands the health care system is changing, \"but (I) don't know how.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state's health insurance marketplace, \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/\">Covered California\u003c/a>, began airing television advertisements in several small markets earlier this month, and expects to be on the airwaves in major markets, such as Los Angeles, in October. Anxiety over the cost of coverage \"reminds us that we have to push forward on the message that the plans are affordable,\" Vasquez said, \"and some people may not have to pay hardly anything, if at all\" if they \u003ca href=\"http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/\" target=\"_blank\">qualify for subsidies\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health policy experts were buoyed by the uninsured's strong desire for coverage: Eight in 10 of those eligible under the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion feel they need health insurance and 57 percent believe health insurance is worth the money. \"That tells me that people do value health coverage and will take action to get themselves covered if it's affordable,\" said Michael Cousineau, a professor at the University of Southern California's school of medicine. \"I just don't think it's going to happen overnight.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Undocumented immigrants have misplaced expectations of the Affordable Care Act, according to the survey. The law specifically forbids illegal immigrants from buying insurance in the state exchanges, and they are already barred from enrolling in Medi-Cal. Yet the survey found 49 percent believe they may qualify for Medi-Cal and 43 percent expect to shop for coverage on the exchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sindi Duarte, an undocumented immigrant from Antioch, has not seen any ads about the coverage expansion. \"I don't know much about it,\" said Duarte, 19, who was born in Guatemala and entered the United States with her parents when she was 2. She recently received a permit to remain in the U.S. under an immigration policy adopted last June by President Barack Obama, and in April was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She is receiving some care for her condition, but has no health insurance. She is uncertain if the law will help her. \"I thought I was (eligible for insurance), but I’m not completely sure.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The survey is unusual in that the foundation expects to track the same pool of people, who are entering the open enrollment period uninsured, for as long as two years to assess the effectiveness of the Medi-Cal expansion and Covered California, the new insurance marketplace meant to ease the burden of buying health coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Only through a poll like this can we see what Obamacare means for real people,\" said Mollyann Brodie, director of public opinion and survey research at the foundation. \"Is it impacting their lives? Is it helping or not? What's working and not working about the law?\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news organization covering health care policy and politics. It is an editorially independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Some Say Obamacare's 'Affordable' Coverage Isn't So Affordable",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15189\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15189\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/piggybank-broke-640x493.jpg\" alt=\"(Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"493\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When it comes to the Affordable Care Act, a lot of emphasis has been placed on enrolling the so-called \"\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/05/24/young-adults-key-to-obamacare-in-california/\" target=\"_blank\">young invincibles\u003c/a>,\" young people who tend to be healthy. The new Covered California insurance marketplace opens next Tuesday, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201309201630/a\" target=\"_blank\">outreach workers\u003c/a> across the state are spreading the news about new options and the coveted subsides, available from the federal government in the form of tax subsidies to make insurance more affordable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \"more affordable\" is relative. \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/September/25/obamacare-affordability-insurance-costs.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a> today tells the story of Michelle La Voie, a single mom making $38,000 a year and supporting two teenagers. She wants health insurance, but even with the subsidy she would likely get, she's still not sure she can afford it. From KHN:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>La Voie ... would still have to pay $191 a month, or about 6 percent of her income toward the premium. She could also face as much as $2,000 in potential out-of-pocket costs for hospital care and prescription drugs, if she needs those things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s the point of having [a policy] if I can’t afford to use it?” asks the 47-year-old librarian in upstate Franklinville, New York, referring to the co-pays and deductibles that she might incur if she sought treatment.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->La Voie would actually get some free care with her policy. Under the health law, some preventive care is free, such as cancer screenings. In addition, \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/PDFs/English/CoveredCA_HealthPlanBenefitsSummary.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">on a silver-tier plan \u003c/a>in Covered California, many doctor visits are not subject to the deductible. Patients do have a co-pay, up to $45 for primary care or $65 for a specialist. Roughly 5.3 million people will be eligible to buy insurance on the Covered California marketplace, and half are expected to qualify for subsidies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under Obamacare, most people are required to have insurance or they will pay a penalty. In 2014, that penalty is $95 or 1 percent of household income, whichever is greater. How individuals and families will weigh affordability within their own budgets can only be revealed in the coming months, after people begin signing up -- or not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an article in the Columbia Journalism Review, veteran health journalist Trudy Lieberman cites a bulletin to clients from insurance consultant Robert Laszewski who, Lieberman says, suggests buying a policy \"may not be such a good deal for many families.\" From\u003ca href=\"http://www.reportingonhealth.org/2013/09/19/untangling-obamacare-affordability-puzzle\" target=\"_blank\"> Lieberman's report\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Using numbers from \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/PDFs/English/CoveredCA_HealthPlanBenefitsSummary.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Covered California\u003c/a>, California’s exchange, he shows that a family of four making $59,000, a bit more than the median income, could expect to pay $4,739 [$394/month] for a policy after subsidies are applied—about 10 percent of their take-home pay. That would buy the second lowest-priced silver plan with a $2,000 deductible and a cap of $12,700 on out-of-pocket expenses. He writes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For so many individuals and families 10% of their take home income is a huge issue. This is the marginal income left at the end of the month, after taxes, rent, and car payments that is so critically important to them. The dirty little secret for Obamacare is that the subsidies aren’t enough to assure us that we will attract a good cross section of risk. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>In metropolitan areas of California, where housing costs tend to be higher, an individual or family could easily be well over the median income and still struggle to pay for health insurance. In May, when Covered California rates were first announced, an attorney who was above the cut-off for a subsidy said \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/05/23/californias-health-insurance-exchange-sets-plans-premiums-no-apparent-rate-shock/\" target=\"_blank\">he would still not be able to afford insurance\u003c/a> for himself and his family through Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health insurance isn't \"cheap or easy,\" said Anthony Wright of Health Access, a California advocacy group. \"These reforms make it cheaper or easier, but it doesn't address all the issues that everybody will have.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>La Voie has put off seeking treatment for an intermittent gall bladder problem, Kaiser Health News reports. She's worried she'll end up in an emergency room with a huge bill to pay -- out of her own pocket. From KHN:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Nevertheless, she plans to take that chance because paying the fine for not having coverage is more affordable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For now, I’m going with the penalty,” she said. “I would love to have insurance but I also want to [be able to] pay for rent and groceries. ... It’s not like I take vacations, go out to eat, or buy lots of clothes ... My money goes to rent, gasoline, food, student loans and utility bills almost exclusively. Believe me, there's not much left over for extras. It's very depressing.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There is work we need to do on the state and federal level on affordability going forward,\" Wright said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "When it comes to the Affordable Care Act, a lot of emphasis has been placed on enrolling the so-called \"young invincibles,\" young people who tend to be healthy. The new Covered California insurance marketplace opens next Tuesday, and outreach workers across the state are spreading the news about new options and the coveted subsides, available from the federal government in the form of tax subsidies to make insurance more affordable.\r\n\r\nBut \"more affordable\" is relative. Kaiser Health News today tells the story of Michelle La Voie, a single mom making $38,000 a year and supporting two teenagers. She wants health insurance, but even with the subsidy she would likely get, she's still not sure she can afford it. ",
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"description": "When it comes to the Affordable Care Act, a lot of emphasis has been placed on enrolling the so-called "young invincibles," young people who tend to be healthy. The new Covered California insurance marketplace opens next Tuesday, and outreach workers across the state are spreading the news about new options and the coveted subsides, available from the federal government in the form of tax subsidies to make insurance more affordable.\r\n\r\nBut "more affordable" is relative. Kaiser Health News today tells the story of Michelle La Voie, a single mom making $38,000 a year and supporting two teenagers. She wants health insurance, but even with the subsidy she would likely get, she's still not sure she can afford it. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15189\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15189\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/piggybank-broke-640x493.jpg\" alt=\"(Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"493\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When it comes to the Affordable Care Act, a lot of emphasis has been placed on enrolling the so-called \"\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/05/24/young-adults-key-to-obamacare-in-california/\" target=\"_blank\">young invincibles\u003c/a>,\" young people who tend to be healthy. The new Covered California insurance marketplace opens next Tuesday, and \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R201309201630/a\" target=\"_blank\">outreach workers\u003c/a> across the state are spreading the news about new options and the coveted subsides, available from the federal government in the form of tax subsidies to make insurance more affordable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But \"more affordable\" is relative. \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/September/25/obamacare-affordability-insurance-costs.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a> today tells the story of Michelle La Voie, a single mom making $38,000 a year and supporting two teenagers. She wants health insurance, but even with the subsidy she would likely get, she's still not sure she can afford it. From KHN:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>La Voie ... would still have to pay $191 a month, or about 6 percent of her income toward the premium. She could also face as much as $2,000 in potential out-of-pocket costs for hospital care and prescription drugs, if she needs those things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What’s the point of having [a policy] if I can’t afford to use it?” asks the 47-year-old librarian in upstate Franklinville, New York, referring to the co-pays and deductibles that she might incur if she sought treatment.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c!--more-->La Voie would actually get some free care with her policy. Under the health law, some preventive care is free, such as cancer screenings. In addition, \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/PDFs/English/CoveredCA_HealthPlanBenefitsSummary.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">on a silver-tier plan \u003c/a>in Covered California, many doctor visits are not subject to the deductible. Patients do have a co-pay, up to $45 for primary care or $65 for a specialist. Roughly 5.3 million people will be eligible to buy insurance on the Covered California marketplace, and half are expected to qualify for subsidies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under Obamacare, most people are required to have insurance or they will pay a penalty. In 2014, that penalty is $95 or 1 percent of household income, whichever is greater. How individuals and families will weigh affordability within their own budgets can only be revealed in the coming months, after people begin signing up -- or not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an article in the Columbia Journalism Review, veteran health journalist Trudy Lieberman cites a bulletin to clients from insurance consultant Robert Laszewski who, Lieberman says, suggests buying a policy \"may not be such a good deal for many families.\" From\u003ca href=\"http://www.reportingonhealth.org/2013/09/19/untangling-obamacare-affordability-puzzle\" target=\"_blank\"> Lieberman's report\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Using numbers from \u003ca href=\"http://www.coveredca.com/PDFs/English/CoveredCA_HealthPlanBenefitsSummary.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Covered California\u003c/a>, California’s exchange, he shows that a family of four making $59,000, a bit more than the median income, could expect to pay $4,739 [$394/month] for a policy after subsidies are applied—about 10 percent of their take-home pay. That would buy the second lowest-priced silver plan with a $2,000 deductible and a cap of $12,700 on out-of-pocket expenses. He writes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For so many individuals and families 10% of their take home income is a huge issue. This is the marginal income left at the end of the month, after taxes, rent, and car payments that is so critically important to them. The dirty little secret for Obamacare is that the subsidies aren’t enough to assure us that we will attract a good cross section of risk. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>In metropolitan areas of California, where housing costs tend to be higher, an individual or family could easily be well over the median income and still struggle to pay for health insurance. In May, when Covered California rates were first announced, an attorney who was above the cut-off for a subsidy said \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/05/23/californias-health-insurance-exchange-sets-plans-premiums-no-apparent-rate-shock/\" target=\"_blank\">he would still not be able to afford insurance\u003c/a> for himself and his family through Covered California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health insurance isn't \"cheap or easy,\" said Anthony Wright of Health Access, a California advocacy group. \"These reforms make it cheaper or easier, but it doesn't address all the issues that everybody will have.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>La Voie has put off seeking treatment for an intermittent gall bladder problem, Kaiser Health News reports. She's worried she'll end up in an emergency room with a huge bill to pay -- out of her own pocket. From KHN:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Nevertheless, she plans to take that chance because paying the fine for not having coverage is more affordable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For now, I’m going with the penalty,” she said. “I would love to have insurance but I also want to [be able to] pay for rent and groceries. ... It’s not like I take vacations, go out to eat, or buy lots of clothes ... My money goes to rent, gasoline, food, student loans and utility bills almost exclusively. Believe me, there's not much left over for extras. It's very depressing.”\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"There is work we need to do on the state and federal level on affordability going forward,\" Wright said.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Swapping COBRA For Obamacare Likely A Windfall For Big Business And Consumers",
"title": "Swapping COBRA For Obamacare Likely A Windfall For Big Business And Consumers",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15153\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15153\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/139534172-640x430.jpg\" alt=\"(Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Jay Hancock\u003c/strong>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/September/24/obamacare-cobra-businesses-marketplaces-exchanges.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health-law provisions taking effect next year could save U.S. employers billions of dollars in expenses now paid for workers who continue medical coverage after they leave the company, benefits experts say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act are expected to all but replace COBRA coverage in which ex-employees and dependents can remain on the company plan if they pay the premiums.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Offered a choice between heavily subsidized coverage under Obamacare or paying full price with COBRA “most people are going to choose the exchange.”\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“As soon as the law was passed, the question among employers and benefits people was: Is there still going to be a reason for COBRA?” said Steve Wojcik, vice president of public policy for the National Business Group on Health, an employer group. Offered a choice between heavily subsidized coverage in the health act’s insurance exchanges or paying full price under COBRA, he said, “most people are going to choose the exchange.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, known as COBRA and intended to furnish coverage between jobs, is a burden for employers as well as participants.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because company cost sharing usually ceases when workers depart, COBRA members pay premiums exceeding $5,000 per year for single-person coverage and more for families. But because it’s so expensive, only people who know they’ll use the insurance are likely to sign up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means participants are typically sicker than average and use half again as much in benefits as they pay in premiums, causing losses for large corporations that pay their own medical claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Employers hate it because it involves people on the plan who are no longer associated with the employer,” said Paul Fronstin, director of health research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute. “And they cost more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forty-one percent of large businesses \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2013/august/28/businesses-shift-retirees-part-time-workers-to-exchanges.aspx\">recently surveyed\u003c/a> by Wojcik’s group expect former employees eligible for COBRA to seek coverage next year on the exchanges instead. Analysts expect few ex-employees if any to choose COBRA once the online marketplaces, scheduled to open in October, become established in a few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>One consumer's example\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like most COBRA participants Jessica Stephens, a 29-year-old Chicagoan, pays the full cost of insurance sponsored by her former employer — $518 a month. Most employers include a 2 percent administrative fee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stephens, who now makes about $25,000 working as a cook at a restaurant that doesn’t offer insurance, says she took a part-time job to pay her COBRA bill. She’s likely to qualify for exchange tax credits that would allow her to buy a policy starting in January for less than $200 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s wonderful. I would definitely take the exchange” once it becomes available, she said. “I thought I could squeeze by financially doing COBRA, but the last nine months have told me that’s not possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\"Dramatic COBRA windfall\" for business\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>COBRA savings are a little-examined dividend for employers, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2013/august/21/insurance-for-working-spouses-at-ups.aspx\">many of whom\u003c/a> have \u003ca href=\"http://www.redstate.com/2013/08/21/delta-airlines-and-the-100-million-costs-of-obamacare/\">complained\u003c/a> that the health law’s taxes and coverage expansion will hurt their profits and suppress hiring. Meanwhile insurers worry that ex-COBRA members will contribute to a sicker-than-average influx of exchange enrollees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I've been preaching for two years that large, self-funded employers were going to get a dramatic COBRA windfall from the act at the expense of the carriers who participate” in the health exchanges, said Michael Bertaut, senior economist at BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana, which will sell plans on the Louisiana exchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The average COBRA member cost his former employer 54 percent more — $3,800 —than the average active worker, continuing a long-term trend, according to a 2009 survey by newsletter Spencer’s Benefits Reports. At one company in five, COBRA participants cost more than twice as much as active workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But COBRA members pay premiums \u003ca href=\"http://www.cobramanagement.com/PQB_FAQ.htm#24\">based on the lower cost\u003c/a> of active employees. (Because former employers usually don’t help with premiums, COBRA members pay far more than they did when employed. But they still don’t pay enough, on average, to cover the cost of their care.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides the chance to stay on the company plan regardless of pre-existing illness, COBRA gives former workers a grace period to sign up —often after they’ve already sought care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So a person who declines COBRA coverage because it’s too expensive as he was leaving a job can change his mind \u003cem>after\u003c/em> he has an accident and racks up medical bills. That retroactive option, which lasts at least two months,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>raises the likelihood of high expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spencer’s, which discontinued the survey after 2009, estimated there were 4.8 million COBRA beneficiaries in 2008. Based on the Spencer’s figures, COBRA would have cost employers more than $10 billion that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CD4QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hsdl.org%2F%3Fview%26did%3D741235&ei=BEcqUvTwDK3i4APKq4DACQ&usg=AFQjCNHsPuqCGzmwYIpBe2pdPHAmCIrXmg&sig2=YqxriSrOr5eUSGqHCVZHdQ\">estimated there were 2.6 million COBRA beneficiaries\u003c/a> in 2011, the most recent year available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all COBRA participants plan to switch to the ACA marketplaces. Many are unaware of the option. Even some who understand the advantages want to make sure the new products function as promised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to see it in black and white — exactly how this system works,” said Janaki Ram Ray, a Maryland retiree whose wife, 58, is on his former employer’s plan. “I’ll think twice about giving that up for an exchange plan to save $200 a month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But few doubt COBRA coverage will fade once ex-employees — often still unemployed and with limited income — understand their alternatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the employers know anything about their own experience, they’re going to be thrilled when these people go into the exchanges,” said Stephen Huth, a former Spencer’s editor, now retired, who managed the COBRA survey. “And when these former employees find out the [lower] cost, they’re going to be thrilled to go into them, too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news organization covering health care policy and politics. It is an editorially-independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Health-law provisions taking effect next year could save U.S. employers billions of dollars in expenses now paid for workers who continue medical coverage after they leave the company, benefits experts say.\r\n\r\nInsurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act are expected to all but replace COBRA coverage in which ex-employees and dependents can remain on the company plan if they pay the premiums.\r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15153\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15153\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/139534172-640x430.jpg\" alt=\"(Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"430\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Jay Hancock\u003c/strong>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2013/September/24/obamacare-cobra-businesses-marketplaces-exchanges.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Health News\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health-law provisions taking effect next year could save U.S. employers billions of dollars in expenses now paid for workers who continue medical coverage after they leave the company, benefits experts say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act are expected to all but replace COBRA coverage in which ex-employees and dependents can remain on the company plan if they pay the premiums.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">Offered a choice between heavily subsidized coverage under Obamacare or paying full price with COBRA “most people are going to choose the exchange.”\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“As soon as the law was passed, the question among employers and benefits people was: Is there still going to be a reason for COBRA?” said Steve Wojcik, vice president of public policy for the National Business Group on Health, an employer group. Offered a choice between heavily subsidized coverage in the health act’s insurance exchanges or paying full price under COBRA, he said, “most people are going to choose the exchange.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, known as COBRA and intended to furnish coverage between jobs, is a burden for employers as well as participants.\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because company cost sharing usually ceases when workers depart, COBRA members pay premiums exceeding $5,000 per year for single-person coverage and more for families. But because it’s so expensive, only people who know they’ll use the insurance are likely to sign up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means participants are typically sicker than average and use half again as much in benefits as they pay in premiums, causing losses for large corporations that pay their own medical claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Employers hate it because it involves people on the plan who are no longer associated with the employer,” said Paul Fronstin, director of health research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute. “And they cost more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forty-one percent of large businesses \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2013/august/28/businesses-shift-retirees-part-time-workers-to-exchanges.aspx\">recently surveyed\u003c/a> by Wojcik’s group expect former employees eligible for COBRA to seek coverage next year on the exchanges instead. Analysts expect few ex-employees if any to choose COBRA once the online marketplaces, scheduled to open in October, become established in a few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>One consumer's example\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like most COBRA participants Jessica Stephens, a 29-year-old Chicagoan, pays the full cost of insurance sponsored by her former employer — $518 a month. Most employers include a 2 percent administrative fee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stephens, who now makes about $25,000 working as a cook at a restaurant that doesn’t offer insurance, says she took a part-time job to pay her COBRA bill. She’s likely to qualify for exchange tax credits that would allow her to buy a policy starting in January for less than $200 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s wonderful. I would definitely take the exchange” once it becomes available, she said. “I thought I could squeeze by financially doing COBRA, but the last nine months have told me that’s not possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\"Dramatic COBRA windfall\" for business\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>COBRA savings are a little-examined dividend for employers, \u003ca href=\"http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2013/august/21/insurance-for-working-spouses-at-ups.aspx\">many of whom\u003c/a> have \u003ca href=\"http://www.redstate.com/2013/08/21/delta-airlines-and-the-100-million-costs-of-obamacare/\">complained\u003c/a> that the health law’s taxes and coverage expansion will hurt their profits and suppress hiring. Meanwhile insurers worry that ex-COBRA members will contribute to a sicker-than-average influx of exchange enrollees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I've been preaching for two years that large, self-funded employers were going to get a dramatic COBRA windfall from the act at the expense of the carriers who participate” in the health exchanges, said Michael Bertaut, senior economist at BlueCross BlueShield of Louisiana, which will sell plans on the Louisiana exchange.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The average COBRA member cost his former employer 54 percent more — $3,800 —than the average active worker, continuing a long-term trend, according to a 2009 survey by newsletter Spencer’s Benefits Reports. At one company in five, COBRA participants cost more than twice as much as active workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But COBRA members pay premiums \u003ca href=\"http://www.cobramanagement.com/PQB_FAQ.htm#24\">based on the lower cost\u003c/a> of active employees. (Because former employers usually don’t help with premiums, COBRA members pay far more than they did when employed. But they still don’t pay enough, on average, to cover the cost of their care.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides the chance to stay on the company plan regardless of pre-existing illness, COBRA gives former workers a grace period to sign up —often after they’ve already sought care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So a person who declines COBRA coverage because it’s too expensive as he was leaving a job can change his mind \u003cem>after\u003c/em> he has an accident and racks up medical bills. That retroactive option, which lasts at least two months,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>raises the likelihood of high expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spencer’s, which discontinued the survey after 2009, estimated there were 4.8 million COBRA beneficiaries in 2008. Based on the Spencer’s figures, COBRA would have cost employers more than $10 billion that year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CD4QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hsdl.org%2F%3Fview%26did%3D741235&ei=BEcqUvTwDK3i4APKq4DACQ&usg=AFQjCNHsPuqCGzmwYIpBe2pdPHAmCIrXmg&sig2=YqxriSrOr5eUSGqHCVZHdQ\">estimated there were 2.6 million COBRA beneficiaries\u003c/a> in 2011, the most recent year available.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not all COBRA participants plan to switch to the ACA marketplaces. Many are unaware of the option. Even some who understand the advantages want to make sure the new products function as promised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want to see it in black and white — exactly how this system works,” said Janaki Ram Ray, a Maryland retiree whose wife, 58, is on his former employer’s plan. “I’ll think twice about giving that up for an exchange plan to save $200 a month.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But few doubt COBRA coverage will fade once ex-employees — often still unemployed and with limited income — understand their alternatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the employers know anything about their own experience, they’re going to be thrilled when these people go into the exchanges,” said Stephen Huth, a former Spencer’s editor, now retired, who managed the COBRA survey. “And when these former employees find out the [lower] cost, they’re going to be thrilled to go into them, too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news organization covering health care policy and politics. It is an editorially-independent program of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.kff.org/\" target=\"_blank\">Kaiser Family Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "A Dozen Hospitals Are Laying Off Staff and Blaming Obamacare; Don't Believe Them",
"title": "A Dozen Hospitals Are Laying Off Staff and Blaming Obamacare; Don't Believe Them",
"headTitle": "State of Health | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15090\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/cseeman/8503615085/sizes/l/in/photolist-dXrfvc-dXwWUb-dXwXoj-dXwVAL-7PUXos/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15090\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/8503615085_09fb081a27_b-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, part of John Muir Health, which recently announced voluntary buyouts ahead of full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. (cseeman/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, part of John Muir Health, which recently announced voluntary buyouts ahead of full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. (cseeman/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Dan Diamond, \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiahealthline.org/road-to-reform/2013/a-dozen-hospitals-are-laying-off-staff-and-blaming-obamacare-dont-believe-them\" target=\"_blank\">California Healthline\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.californiahealthline.org/road-to-reform/2013/a-dozen-hospitals-are-laying-off-staff-and-blaming-obamacare-dont-believe-them\" target=\"_blank\">'s Road to Reform\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hospitals tend to be among the largest employers in their communities -- which means that any individual decision to lay off staff can have an outsized local impact. And taken together, a dozen recent announcements seem to paint an especially dire picture for hospitals (and their communities) around the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Contra Costa County John Muir Health is offering staff voluntary buyouts ahead of ACA implementation. \"We're being paid less, and we either stick our head in the sand or make changes for the future so patients can continue to access us for their care,\" \u003ca href=\"http://www.contracostatimes.com/rss/ci_24082730\" target=\"_blank\">according to John Muir\u003c/a> spokesperson Ben Drew.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">The ACA is just one factor affecting hospital finances, and its impact isn't consistently negative for providers.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>NorthShore in Illinois says it will lay off 1 percent of its workforce. The staffing cuts \"ensure NorthShore remains well positioned to deal with the unprecedented changes brought on by the Affordable Care Act,\" \u003ca href=\"http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130826/NEWS03/130829860/northshore-to-lay-off-about-130-employees\" target=\"_blank\">according to\u003c/a> a memo from the health system's chief human resources executive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Obamacare was being debated in Congress, its opponents tried to tar it with a deadly label: \"the job-killing health law.\" So is the ACA finally living down to its sobriquet?\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not exactly. While the recent news makes for provocative headlines, the devil's in the details -- and the financial reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Closer Look at Industry Pressures\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's clear that \u003cem>something \u003c/em>is shifting in the hospital market. After years of employment growth, hospitals' hiring patterns have largely \u003ca href=\"http://www.advisory.com/Daily-Briefing/Blog/2013/08/Hospitals-lost-jobs-again\" target=\"_blank\">leveled off\u003c/a>. Collectively, organizations shed 9,000 jobs in May -- the worst single month for the hospital sector in a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of those decisions reflect industry-wide belt-tightening, as Medicare moves to rein in health spending by moving away from fee-for-service reimbursement and penalizing hospitals that perform poorly on certain quality measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And uncertainty around ACA implementation is trickling down to hospital staffing decisions, economists told Road to Reform. Many organizations still aren't sure how the pending wave of newly insured patients will affect their profit margins, given that many of these individuals may be sicker and will be covered by Medicaid, which reimburses hospitals at lower rates than Medicare and private payers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the ACA is just one factor affecting hospital finances, and its impact isn't consistently negative for providers. In some cases, hospitals have even \u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2012/11/mercy-to-hire-30-nurse-care.html?page=all\" target=\"_blank\">staffed\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-07-27/health/fl-patient-navigators-20130719_1_navigators-patient-south-florida-hospitals\" target=\"_blank\">up\u003c/a> in hopes of capturing new patient volumes from the ACA's insurance marketplaces or receiving added revenue through the law's accountable care organizations and other pilots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as \"Road to Reform\" has \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiahealthline.org/road-to-reform/2011/fixing-us-workforce-may-be-a-job-for-health-reform\" target=\"_blank\">previously detailed\u003c/a>, when accounting for all of the law's disparate effects -- the flow of new dollars into health care sector, which leads to direct and indirect hiring; the financial relief for millions of low-income families, who can decouple their employment decisions from health insurance -- some economists argue that the ACA is a \u003cem>job-boosting\u003c/em> health law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Closer Look at Who's Writing the Headlines\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases, it's not hospital officials casting blame on the law, but opportunistic lawmakers -- and even ambitious headline writers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Emory Healthcare recently announced plans to lay off 100 staff members, local media \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/emory-healthcare-cut-100-jobs-partly-because-obama/nZw5N/\" target=\"_blank\">chalked the cuts up\u003c/a> to the Affordable Care Act. (That spin on the story attracted national attention.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when The Atlantic's\u003cem> \u003c/em>Ford Vox \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/09/no-obamacare-isnt-the-reason-emory-is-laying-off-101-staffers/279689/\" target=\"_blank\">dug deeper\u003c/a>, he found that the decision was based less on the ACA and more on local market realities. In fact, Emory officials stressed that \"these changes have nothing do with Obamacare,\" Vox writes, but reflect the organization's decision to reallocate resources away from the inpatient psychiatric program, where the layoffs are concentrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local reporters in Texas also seized on Covenant Health's \u003ca href=\"http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2013-08-26/covenant-health-lays-49-employees\" target=\"_blank\">recent announcement\u003c/a> that it would lay off 49 employees. While the CEO explained that the staff reduction reflected pending declines in hospital reimbursement -- partly brought on by the ACA -- Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) went further. \"This is likely to happen at more and more hospitals under Obamacare,\" Neugebauer \u003ca href=\"http://www.kcbd.com/story/23261847/covenant-lays-off-49\" target=\"_blank\">told one TV station\u003c/a>. \"We need to repeal [the ACA] now before it creates any more problems.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Law May Be Providing Cover\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, another set of headlines suggest a different story could be written. Some hospitals are laying off staff -- or even closing their doors -- because they say their states aren't doing enough\u003cem> \u003c/em>to \u003cem>implement\u003c/em> the Affordable Care Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Huffington Post's \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/north-carolina-medicaid-expansion_n_3882976.html\" target=\"_blank\">Jeffrey Young reports\u003c/a> on one North Carolina hospital, Vidant Pungo, that recently shuttered because the state refused to opt into the ACA's Medicaid expansion; according to hospital officials, expanding coverage would have cut their uncompensated care bill and boosted revenues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But looking at the health system's balance sheet reveals that Vidant Pungo's financial concerns went well beyond the ACA; for example, the aging facility likely needed a capital infusion to renovate its aging physical plant. Meanwhile, some of the hospitals that are blaming the ACA for their recent staffing decisions have had longstanding financial challenges. (Covenant in Texas, for example, shed hundreds of workers in 2008 and 2009, well before the ACA was even being debated in Congress.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since its passage four years ago, Obamacare has been many things to many groups: a rallying point for liberals, a stalking point for conservatives, a transformative package of reforms for the health care industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time around, Obamacare may be playing a new role: convenient scapegoat for hospitals' relatively normal staffing decisions.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_15090\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/cseeman/8503615085/sizes/l/in/photolist-dXrfvc-dXwWUb-dXwXoj-dXwVAL-7PUXos/\">\u003cimg class=\"size-large wp-image-15090\" title=\"\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/stateofhealth/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2013/09/8503615085_09fb081a27_b-640x480.jpg\" alt=\"John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, part of John Muir Health, which recently announced voluntary buyouts ahead of full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. (cseeman/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, part of John Muir Health, which recently announced voluntary buyouts ahead of full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. (cseeman/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>By Dan Diamond, \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiahealthline.org/road-to-reform/2013/a-dozen-hospitals-are-laying-off-staff-and-blaming-obamacare-dont-believe-them\" target=\"_blank\">California Healthline\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"http://www.californiahealthline.org/road-to-reform/2013/a-dozen-hospitals-are-laying-off-staff-and-blaming-obamacare-dont-believe-them\" target=\"_blank\">'s Road to Reform\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hospitals tend to be among the largest employers in their communities -- which means that any individual decision to lay off staff can have an outsized local impact. And taken together, a dozen recent announcements seem to paint an especially dire picture for hospitals (and their communities) around the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Contra Costa County John Muir Health is offering staff voluntary buyouts ahead of ACA implementation. \"We're being paid less, and we either stick our head in the sand or make changes for the future so patients can continue to access us for their care,\" \u003ca href=\"http://www.contracostatimes.com/rss/ci_24082730\" target=\"_blank\">according to John Muir\u003c/a> spokesperson Ben Drew.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">The ACA is just one factor affecting hospital finances, and its impact isn't consistently negative for providers.\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>NorthShore in Illinois says it will lay off 1 percent of its workforce. The staffing cuts \"ensure NorthShore remains well positioned to deal with the unprecedented changes brought on by the Affordable Care Act,\" \u003ca href=\"http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130826/NEWS03/130829860/northshore-to-lay-off-about-130-employees\" target=\"_blank\">according to\u003c/a> a memo from the health system's chief human resources executive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Obamacare was being debated in Congress, its opponents tried to tar it with a deadly label: \"the job-killing health law.\" So is the ACA finally living down to its sobriquet?\u003c!--more-->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not exactly. While the recent news makes for provocative headlines, the devil's in the details -- and the financial reports.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Closer Look at Industry Pressures\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It's clear that \u003cem>something \u003c/em>is shifting in the hospital market. After years of employment growth, hospitals' hiring patterns have largely \u003ca href=\"http://www.advisory.com/Daily-Briefing/Blog/2013/08/Hospitals-lost-jobs-again\" target=\"_blank\">leveled off\u003c/a>. Collectively, organizations shed 9,000 jobs in May -- the worst single month for the hospital sector in a decade.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of those decisions reflect industry-wide belt-tightening, as Medicare moves to rein in health spending by moving away from fee-for-service reimbursement and penalizing hospitals that perform poorly on certain quality measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And uncertainty around ACA implementation is trickling down to hospital staffing decisions, economists told Road to Reform. Many organizations still aren't sure how the pending wave of newly insured patients will affect their profit margins, given that many of these individuals may be sicker and will be covered by Medicaid, which reimburses hospitals at lower rates than Medicare and private payers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the ACA is just one factor affecting hospital finances, and its impact isn't consistently negative for providers. In some cases, hospitals have even \u003ca href=\"http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/blog/2012/11/mercy-to-hire-30-nurse-care.html?page=all\" target=\"_blank\">staffed\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2013-07-27/health/fl-patient-navigators-20130719_1_navigators-patient-south-florida-hospitals\" target=\"_blank\">up\u003c/a> in hopes of capturing new patient volumes from the ACA's insurance marketplaces or receiving added revenue through the law's accountable care organizations and other pilots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And as \"Road to Reform\" has \u003ca href=\"http://www.californiahealthline.org/road-to-reform/2011/fixing-us-workforce-may-be-a-job-for-health-reform\" target=\"_blank\">previously detailed\u003c/a>, when accounting for all of the law's disparate effects -- the flow of new dollars into health care sector, which leads to direct and indirect hiring; the financial relief for millions of low-income families, who can decouple their employment decisions from health insurance -- some economists argue that the ACA is a \u003cem>job-boosting\u003c/em> health law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Closer Look at Who's Writing the Headlines\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases, it's not hospital officials casting blame on the law, but opportunistic lawmakers -- and even ambitious headline writers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Emory Healthcare recently announced plans to lay off 100 staff members, local media \u003ca href=\"http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/emory-healthcare-cut-100-jobs-partly-because-obama/nZw5N/\" target=\"_blank\">chalked the cuts up\u003c/a> to the Affordable Care Act. (That spin on the story attracted national attention.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But when The Atlantic's\u003cem> \u003c/em>Ford Vox \u003ca href=\"http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/09/no-obamacare-isnt-the-reason-emory-is-laying-off-101-staffers/279689/\" target=\"_blank\">dug deeper\u003c/a>, he found that the decision was based less on the ACA and more on local market realities. In fact, Emory officials stressed that \"these changes have nothing do with Obamacare,\" Vox writes, but reflect the organization's decision to reallocate resources away from the inpatient psychiatric program, where the layoffs are concentrated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local reporters in Texas also seized on Covenant Health's \u003ca href=\"http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2013-08-26/covenant-health-lays-49-employees\" target=\"_blank\">recent announcement\u003c/a> that it would lay off 49 employees. While the CEO explained that the staff reduction reflected pending declines in hospital reimbursement -- partly brought on by the ACA -- Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) went further. \"This is likely to happen at more and more hospitals under Obamacare,\" Neugebauer \u003ca href=\"http://www.kcbd.com/story/23261847/covenant-lays-off-49\" target=\"_blank\">told one TV station\u003c/a>. \"We need to repeal [the ACA] now before it creates any more problems.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Law May Be Providing Cover\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, another set of headlines suggest a different story could be written. Some hospitals are laying off staff -- or even closing their doors -- because they say their states aren't doing enough\u003cem> \u003c/em>to \u003cem>implement\u003c/em> the Affordable Care Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Huffington Post's \u003ca href=\"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/north-carolina-medicaid-expansion_n_3882976.html\" target=\"_blank\">Jeffrey Young reports\u003c/a> on one North Carolina hospital, Vidant Pungo, that recently shuttered because the state refused to opt into the ACA's Medicaid expansion; according to hospital officials, expanding coverage would have cut their uncompensated care bill and boosted revenues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But looking at the health system's balance sheet reveals that Vidant Pungo's financial concerns went well beyond the ACA; for example, the aging facility likely needed a capital infusion to renovate its aging physical plant. Meanwhile, some of the hospitals that are blaming the ACA for their recent staffing decisions have had longstanding financial challenges. (Covenant in Texas, for example, shed hundreds of workers in 2008 and 2009, well before the ACA was even being debated in Congress.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since its passage four years ago, Obamacare has been many things to many groups: a rallying point for liberals, a stalking point for conservatives, a transformative package of reforms for the health care industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This time around, Obamacare may be playing a new role: convenient scapegoat for hospitals' relatively normal staffing decisions.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"order": 1
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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},
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
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