Health care in California: How the state made almost everyone eligible for coverage

Two patients sit in front of a desk with a plexiglass where a receptionists writes something down on a piece of paper. Almost everyone in California has health insurance.

That trend reflects about a decade and a half of policymaking designed to expand access to health care . The state’s average uninsured rate has dropped from nearly one in four Californians in 2009 to less than one in ten today.

At the start of 2024, Democratic lawmakers led California to become one of only two states in the nation to offer state-funded health insurance to all low-income undocumented immigrant Californians. It was a major milestone that allowed the state to start covering its largest remaining uninsured group.

Amid the state’s historically low uninsured rates, though, some gaps remain. They include undocumented families who earn too much money to qualify for state-supported insurance.

And, health care remains expensive despite efforts to bring down the cost of care. Californians spend more money on health care than the national average.

California also has not gone as far as Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged when he ran for office in 2018. Back then, he said he supported government-funded, universal health care coverage. That has not happened, and he now […]

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