California’s Effort at Comprehensive Health Care Reform Still Getting Nationwide Coverage

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

California's effort at comprehensive health care reform is still getting attention, as various experts from California and across the country are weighing in with their analyses, reports, and debriefs from the fight. (This is beyond the initial reactions in the first week, by Health Access and many others, such as editorial boards.)

It's clear the eyes of the nation (or at least health reformers) were on California, and there's a consensus that there are important lessons to learn from our experience: from the policy, from the politics, and the process, as the nation starts to deal with this issue as the federal level. While not endorsing the view of any commentator or author, here's what has come out just recently:

• The New America Foundation has a full report, entitled "Lessons From California's Health Reform Efforts for the National Debate" written by Peter Harbage, Leif Wellington Haase, and Len Nichols.

They also sponsored a forum in Washington, DC, last week, that included Harbage, Haase, and several other Sacramento regulars, including our colleague and board member Betsy Imholz of Consumers Union. A transcript and video of that event is available at the kaisernetwork.org "Healthcast" website.

The blog of the high profile policy journal Health Affairs has been hosting a forum deconstructing the health debate, between many Californians with different vantage points in the fight. The positings include:

• “California Shelved Health Care Reform,” Rick Curtis and Ed Neuschler, Insitute for Health Policy Solutions.

• “Opportunity Lost: The Failure of California’s Health Reform,” Patricia Lynch, Kaiser Permanente.

• “The Mandate Wars, In California and Beyond,” Rick Kronick, UC-San Diego.

• “California: Negotiating The Intersections of Reform,” Lucien Wulsin, Insure the Uninsured Project.

• “Shared Responsibility: The Better Course,” Curtis/Neuschler.

• “Guaranteed Issue? Only With An Individual Mandate,” Patricia Lynch.

• “Coverage And Cost Containment: Both Are Needed,” Wulsin.

• The California Health Care Foundation has a few recent documents on their calhealthreform.org website that reviews the policy developed in AB x1 1. Elliot Wicks of Health Management Associates has a framework assessment from his view in Washington, DC, and Rick Curtis of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions has a summary of technical observations and design issues from being part of developing the proposal.

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