Health Care

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The Labor Center’s health care research aims to inform federal, state, and local policymaking to improve access to health coverage and make health care more affordable for workers and their families. Our research especially examines policy impacts for California low-income and immigrant working families and communities of color. Many of our publications include projections from the California Simulation of Insurance Markets (CalSIM) model, jointly developed with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Our factsheet for calculating Modified Adjusted Gross Income under the Affordable Care Act is available here.

Who is and isn’t insured, coverage affordability, job-based health coverage, the ACA, Covered CA, and Medi-Cal.

Affordability of coverage and care, underlying cost trends, and solutions.

Access to health coverage for immigrant families, undocumented Californians, and those with DACA.

California Simulation of Insurance Markets model projections, reports, and methodology.

Research & Publications

Laurel Lucia

California Could Lose Up to 217,000 Jobs if Congress Cuts Medicaid

Republicans are considering major cuts to Medicaid to offset tax cuts. Depending on the specific mechanisms and timing for cutting Medicaid, California could expect to see between $10 billion and $20 billion fewer federal dollars per year coming to Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. These federal cuts would lead to significant job loss in health care and other sectors.

Press Coverage

Precinct Reporter Group

Medi-Cal Under Attack, Big Impact

In a UC Berkeley Labor Center 2024 report on Medi-Cal Enrollment and Spending by District and County shows enrollment at 44% in the 42nd Congressional District and 46% in the 44th in Long Beach. In the Inland Empire, about 42% of Riverside County residents and 45% of San Bernardino County residents were enrolled in Medi-Cal.