Health Secretary Dooley discusses health care reform
October 14, 2013 •
It’s a historic time for health care in America. And California is helping lead the reforms, said Diana Dooley, state secretary of Health and Human Services, who visited UCOP in Oakland last week to give a talk, hosted by UC Health.
California’s health insurance exchange launched Oct. 1. The online marketplace allows individuals, families and small businesses to compare policies and buy insurance.
The exchange was created as part of the federal Affordable Care Act and is expected to increase access to health care, along with an expansion of Medicaid coverage, to millions of low-income Americans. About 48 million Americans are uninsured, including more than 7 million Californians.
The state marketplace, called Covered California, as of Oct. 8 had received about 1 million unique visits to its website — second highest in the nation — along with 59,000 phone calls and more than 16,000 completed applications for health insurance.
“We’re certainly off to a very good start,” Dooley told UC Office of the President employees . “As California goes, so goes the nation.”
See the current issue of UC Health for Communications Coordinator Alec Rosenberg’s complete story on Dooley’s talk.
