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.
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.
This fact sheet highlights the key health coverage gains made in California under the state’s robust implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) since it was enacted over 10 years ago on March 23, 2010. These achievements show how much is at stake in California v. Texas, the case the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on November 10, 2020, under which the ACA could be overturned.
Under the Affordable Care Act, eligibility for income-based Medicaid and subsidized health insurance through the Marketplaces is calculated using a household’s Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI). The Affordable Care Act definition of MAGI under the Internal Revenue Code and federal Medicaid regulations is shown below.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed tragic shortcomings in California’s preparedness for infrequent but catastrophic public health threats. This failure has caused serious health consequences—in addition to being financially myopic. One specific type of prevention investment that is widely recognized to be crucial is the stockpiling of personal protective equipment (PPE) for essential workers.
This report examines the costs and benefits of an innovative LA County proposal to recruit frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19 transmission. The proposal requires businesses to permit employees to form public safety councils who meet with management to plan and troubleshoot compliance and report regularly to the DPH.
A new report from the U.C. Berkeley Labor Center and Working Partnerships USA released today shows how technology is likely to impact job quality in healthcare and suggests that technological adoption may accelerate as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
September 28, 2020
California’s Health Coverage Gains under the Affordable Care Act: What’s at Stake in California v. Texas?
August 12, 2020
Economic and Health Benefits of a PPE Stockpile
July 21, 2020
Workers as Health Monitors: An Assessment of LA County’s Workplace Public Health Council Proposal
March 24, 2020
Time to Act for Workers: Critical State and Local Policies to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Interview with Laurel Lucia on “What Losing the Affordable Care Act Could Mean for Californians.”
An August report from the University of California-Berkeley found that at least 20,860 California cases of COVID-19 among essential workers could have been avoided, as well as dozens of deaths, if the state had had a sufficient supply of protective gear.
A UC Berkeley Labor Center study found that if the state had had a stockpile prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of workers would not have contracted the virus, and California would have saved $93 million each week on unemployment claims from out-of-work healthcare workers.
“Research shows that when workers are empowered to speak up it leads to safer conditions on the job,” said Ken Jacobs, director of the UC Berkeley Labor Center and also a co-author of the report. “Workers have deep knowledge of the workplace and are best positioned to identify threats to themselves and the public, as well as solutions. Frontline workers are less likely to speak up if they fear retaliation or don’t believe they will be listened to.”
“Health care and nurses unions have an impressive history of fighting to improve their working conditions and pushing for patient care policy reforms that benefit all of us,” Lucia said.
Laurel Lucia
Director, Health Care Program
Ken Jacobs
Labor Center Chair
Miranda Dietz
Research and Policy Associate
Tynan Challenor
Research and Policy Assistant
