Health care professionals cite coverage disparities, urge enrollment ahead of Covered California deadline – The Bakersfield Californian

The state’s insurance marketplace, Covered California, reported record high enrollment while highlighting disparities in coverage that persist in many minority communities during a virtual press conference Wednesday.

The press conference was part of a statewide push for enrollment ahead of the state’s Jan. 31 deadline to sign up for coverage in 2022.

“Health insurance is freedom — freedom from the worry about not having health insurance,” said Dr. David Carlisle, president and CEO of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. “Health insurance is empowerment — empowerment to go where you want to for your health care. And remember, most of all, health insurance can be transformative in terms of preventing somebody from having a bad outcome from health care.”

Kern County saw the rate of its uninsured drop from 17.4 percent in 2013 to 6.5 percent in 2020, according to Covered California broadcast and media relations branch chief James Scullary in an email. Throughout California, more than 1.7 million people have renewed their coverage during this period, which is the highest number since 2020, said Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California.

However, the Latino population is the most likely cohort to be uninsured in the state, Lee added. Black people and Asians are more than one and a half times more likely than white people to be uninsured, he said.

Communities of color do not believe coverage is available and affordable for them, Lee said.

“Covered California is providing everyone in the state of California with an answer to this conundrum by making health insurance available at the minimal amount of cost to everyone,” Carlisle said.

Signing up for health care insurance is critical for access to preventative measures that can halt the progress of a deadly illness, said civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, a speaker at Wednesday’s conference.

Lee added getting insurance means one is less likely to have diabetes or heart conditions.

“It’s about protecting our families,” Huerta said. “It’s about protecting our community and taking care of our health needs.”

Rhonda Smith, executive director of the California Black Health Network who also spoke at the event, added health inequities persist within minority populations. Pressing issues for African-Americans include the community having high maternal and infant mortality rates, she said.

“We truly believe that health care … is a right and not a privilege,” Smith said. “We know that healthy people, healthy communities and having good health care coverage always leads to better health outcomes.”

Lee encouraged these minorities to check in with local insurance agents, or places like the California Black Health Network, to receive help navigating the process of signing for health care coverage.

Dr. Alice Huan-mei Chen, the chief medical officer for Covered California, also discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted people of color. The Latino community makes up 40 percent of California’s population, but accounts of 52 percent of COVID-19 cases, said Dr. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, the director of the UC Davis Center for Reducing Health Disparities and a professor of clinical internal medicine at UC Davis.

The average cost of a hospitalization related to the coronavirus is more than $40,000, Chen said. Rates jump to roughly $127,000 when a person is admitted to the ICU or placed on a ventilator, she added.

“People who are enrolled in Covered California pay only a tiny fraction of those costs,” Chen said.

You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @idesai98 on Twitter.