Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2014, the uninsured rate in California has dropped by nearly half, from 16 percent in 2013 to 9 percent in 2015. However, 2.9 million Californians remained uninsured. And although California policymakers and the California ACA marketplace, Covered California, have nimbly responded to federal threats, plan choice and affordability are nonetheless concerns for many people with coverage. In continuing California’s tradition as a national leader on health policy, state policymakers, advocates and other stakeholders are exploring state-based approaches to expand or improve coverage in California.

There are myriad ways California might seek to expand coverage and also address other issues, such as consumer choice and health care affordability. In a new white paper prepared for the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), Manatt Health analyzes several approaches designed to expand coverage that have been proposed legislatively or discussed among California state policymakers. These approaches intersect, to varying degrees, with federal programs and laws. The white paper explores those intersections to illuminate legal issues that the state and stakeholders would need to consider under each of these approaches.

Click here to read the full CHCF paper.