What Does Healthcare Reform Mean for Californians?

After a long and bruising legislative battle, President Barack Obama signed national healthcare reform into law. The plan promises coverage to the uninsured, lower healthcare costs for small businesses, and tighter regulation of insurance companies, preventing them from denying care to the sick. The reform comes at a crucial time for California. The economic crisis has left the state considering cuts to its healthcare programs, particularly for the elderly and the disabled. With nearly one in four of its residents lacking access to care, California has the highest number of uninsured people of any state. What does national healthcare reform mean for California? Zócalo invited the L.A. Times’ Duke Helfand, the California HealthCare Foundation's Marian Mulkey, Jan Spencley of San Diegans for Healthcare Coverage, Small Business Majority Founder and CEO John Arensmeyer, and Lucien Wulsin of the Insure the Uninsured Project to consider how reform will help Californians, how it will impact local businesses, insurers, and hospitals, and how it might fall short. This event was made possible by a generous grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.