Region Not Ready For Health Reform In 2014

About 227,500 Sacramento area residents will be eligible for health coverage in 2014, but an already strained regional safety net is not prepared to care for them, a new market analysis of the region concludes. Slightly more than half of the newly insured will be Medi-Cal patients, placing a huge burden on emergency departments and community health centers that typically serve this population.

Without community action to beef up the system and collaborate on more comprehensive approaches to care, the system will be overwhelmed, according to the analysis commissioned by the Sierra Health Foundation and aired at a public forum in Sacramento Thursday. “We have a fragmented safety net. We all know about state and local budget cuts — and the Affordable Care Act will bring thousands more to coverage,” Congresswoman Doris Matsui said. “How will we care for them?”...