Oral

BPresident Obama and congress enacted the Affordable Care Act in order to greatly reduce the number of medically uninsured Americans. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the ACA, the movement toward increasing the number of insured will continue. Massachusetts has already has a mandate on individuals to buy medical insurance and other states may build on its model. California is leading the country in setting up an exchange to facilitate the sale of medical insurance to residents. As leading states work on adding residents to the ranks of the insured, how they do so will set the pattern for access to medical care across the U.S. As states address the problem of lack of medical insurance, Lessons from states like California will set important precedents. This session will study some of the early evidence of how current work to cover the uninsured is developing.

Session Objectives: Describe highlights of how the California exchange is working to insure residents, including what medical insurance choices it is offering and how it is handling outreach and enrollment. Describe highlights of how the National Association of Insurance Commissioners is working to protect medical insurance enrollees under the exchanges. Describe on-going efforts to establish public options to provide medical insurance in the exchanges.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)