New America in California: The Latest From New America

Lessons From California's Health Reform Efforts For the National Debate

Health Policy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 18:10:00 -0500

In January 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a comprehensive health care plan that aimed to provide quality, affordable health insurance to all Californians. Based on individual responsibility, the plan focused on prevention and wellness and emphasized a shared responsibility approach to financing.

After almost a year of negotiations between Governor Schwarzenegger and Democratic legislative leaders, compromise legislation with a framework and goals similar to the governor’s original proposal passed the State Assembly with a large majority. This compromise legislation, however, was later rejected by the California Senate’s Health committee.

The effort to reform California’s health care system faced several… more

The California Assets and Transaction Account

Asset Building — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 11:43:00 -0500

In support of state-wide efforts to bring more Californians into the financial mainstream, the State of California could deliver a pre-paid account through the state’s tax filing process. The Assets and Transaction Account, or ATA, would expedite tax filers’ access to their tax refunds and serve as a safe, affordable, and convenient financial tool for lower-income Californians to conduct routine financial transactions and build saving throughout the year.

The state tax filing process presents a unique opportunity to reach and deliver a valuable financial product to millions of under-banked Californians, while also saving the state government millions… more

Coverage Without Gaps

Health Policy — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 08:24:00 -0400

In America’s fragmented health care system, too many individuals and families lack continuous access to health insurance. Overwhelming evidence shows that lacking health insurance leads to decreased access to quality care and reduces health status. The widely shared social and economic losses from these problems compound the cost of thousands of lives lost every year due to lack of health insurance and consequently access to care. In this context, health reform that ensures every individual and family seamless health insurance is more a matter of stewardship than of charity.

The goal of California health reform should be seamless, universal coverage,… more

What Your Car Can Teach You About Health Reform

Health Policy — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 08:03:00 -0400

Analysts largely agree that if you want everyone to have health insurance, you’re going to have to require it. “Individual mandates” to purchase health insurance would also help insurance markets work better than they do now, since insurers would then find it far easier to attract a balance of high and low risks if all had to buy something. Therefore they would need to do far less medical underwriting (risk evaluation) and targeted marketing, and that would lower the cost of insurance to us all. And of course, if all patients had good insurance, then hospitals and doctors would… more

Growing Support for Shared and Personal Responsibility in Health Care

Health Policy — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 08:54:00 -0400

Fear is a powerful force. Families fear the disappearance of affordable health insurance, employers fear international competition while financing high and rising health care costs at home, and providers fear that they will not be able to deliver needed care for lack of funding. In short, just about everyone fears that our system will fall apart. Instead of taking action, many politicians remain fearful of tackling health care reform, since it crushed the Clintons and others before them.

But hope is an equally powerful force. And the hope is that there is growing bipartisan support for a health system based… more

Estimating the 'Hidden Tax' on Insured Californians Due to the Care Needed and Received by the Uninsured

adminn — Mon, 21 May 2007 10:33:00 -0400

The report released today by the Hoover Institution confirms that insured families across California pay a "hidden tax" to provide uncompensated health care to the uninsured. The existence of this "hidden tax" is no longer in dispute; what's under debate is its magnitude, which is hard to measure precisely because it is "hidden."

This memo describes the range of estimates that various experts have made, highlights some of the reasons for differing judgments, and then lets the reader draw his or her own conclusions about the reasonable range of hidden tax estimates.

For the complete Policy… more

Instant Runoff Voting

adminn — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 01:01:00 -0500

Click here for a brief video discussion of this idea.

Americans want a more representative and responsive government capable of addressing the nation's challenges, yet our electoral system is founded on antiquated practices that inhibit voter choices and encourage a politics of polarization and paralysis. It's time to bring our electoral system into the 21st century by adopting instant runoff voting (IRV).

IRV elects winners with majority support in a single election by allowing voters to rank a first, second, and third choice on… more

An Energy Efficiency Trading System

adminn — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 00:42:00 -0500

Click here for a brief video discussion of this idea.

Reducing the economic and environmental risks of excessive energy use must become one of America's most important national goals. The most promising way forward is to reduce energy demand by spurring a revolution in energy efficiency. Indeed, efficiency is America's largest and most cost-effective potential energy resource.

Phasing in tough new energy standards for America's biggest energy users and making energy efficiency tradable -- much the way we now trade oil and natural gas… more

A Premium Price

Health Policy — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 22:12:00 -0500

Health insurance is the primary method Californians use to access and pay for health care. However, millions of Californians have inadequate health insurance or lack coverage entirely. When care is needed, the first inclination for these families is to delay treatment that is too costly and then hope for the best. And when hope is not enough, these families are forced to seek treatment that they often cannot afford. When medical bills go unpaid, many health care providers shift the cost onto those who can pay -- the those with health insurance...

For the complete text of this issue brief, please… more

Automatic Voter Registration

Political Reform — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 23:44:00 -0500

The Problem. Recent elections underscore the importance of improving the way we register citizens to vote. Our voter rolls are not complete enough, with nearly a third of eligible Californians -- about 6.7 million people -- not registered, a lower percentage than in 2001.This lack of civic participation is a threat to good governance and a healthy democracy. Current state law limits valuable opportunities for engaging more Californians in the electoral process.

California, like the rest of the United States, is one of the few democracies where the government does not take… more

Universal Voter Registration

Political Reform — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 23:12:00 -0500

California's strength flows from a willingness to innovate and improve upon the American experiment in democracy. Recent elections underscore the importance of revamping the way we register citizens to vote, with the twin goals of registering all eligible voters and decreasing opportunities for voter fraud. Voter rolls should be complete and clean.

The Problem

Currently, there are two widespread failures. First, our voter rolls are not complete enough, with nearly a third of eligible voters -- about 60 million Americans -- not registered to vote. In California 6.7 million (30 percent) eligible… more

Growing Support for Shared Responsibility in Health Care

Health Policy — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 21:09:00 -0400

But hope is an equally powerful force. And the hope is that there is growing bipartisan support for a health system based… more

Ensuring Health Coverage for California's Immigrant Children

Health Policy — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0500

The New America Foundation is committed to achieving universal health insurance coverage for all people in America. The most promising route to universal coverage is a system that relies on shared responsibility among individuals, employers, and the government. To that end, the New America Foundation has released a series of three papers outlining how to cover all children in California as a first step towards universal coverage. This paper is a component of that series.

For the complete document, please see the attached PDF version.

Shared Responsibility to Cover California's Children

Health Policy — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Health insurance is the gateway to health and to our health care system, yet over five million Californians are uninsured, about 800,000 of whom are children. Having health insurance facilitates access to affordable care from a network of health care providers and shields families from financial ruin in the case of a catastrophic medical emergency.

While most Californians have access to employment-based coverage, a growing number of people either work for firms that do not offer health insurance or cannot afford its rapidly increasing cost. Public programs such as Medi-Cal and Healthy Families play a crucial role by offering health… more

Ensuring Seamless Insurance Coverage for California's Children

Health Policy — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:00:00 -0500

Recent national research has shown that 85 million people lacked health insurance at some point over a four-year period.1 While some Americans are consistently uninsured, substantial numbers have intermittent coverage. Consider, for example, a family that is currently covered through a parent’s employment-based health insurance. A subsequent job loss could leave that family uninsured until another job with health insurance is secured, the family purchases a non-group health insurance policy, or the family is determined to be eligible for and enrolls in public coverage. Another family with low to moderate income may have children enrolled in the State Children’s Health… more

California Asset Building Policy Options

Asset Building — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 06:00:00 -0400

What are asset-building policies?Asset building is about giving all Californians access to the government-sponsored financial tools and incentives that have created and sustained economic prosperity for higher-income families. Today, for example, the federal government spends over $300 billion per year to help individuals and families acquire assets through home mortgage deductions, tax incentives, business investments and retirement savings programs. There’s only one problem with these effective policies--more than 90 percent of that money goes to households already making over $50,000 per year. The goal of asset building policies is to grow the middle class from the bottom up by… more