California Health Policy

This year, the New America Foundation has convened a California-based task force composed of high-level health care stakeholders. Their goal has been to develop innovative solutions that promote value in health care spending. The specific focus of their work has been on California, but their recommendations have been informed by the national health reform debate. These deliberations have been guided by the input of a panel of health policy experts who identified the most important actions of state regulators, legislators, insurers, and providers can take to begin reining in health care costs in the California marketplace.

Effective strategies for value promotion and cost containment are crucial whether current federal reform efforts stall or are successful; they are necessary whether California itself takes a comprehensive or incremental path to health policy reform. Making progress toward covering the uninsured and providing greater access to care depends— practically and politically—on maximizing value for the patient of every dollar of health care spending. This is particularly clear in light of the sharp constraints on public and private resources in the current fiscal climate.