The commissioner said California “should strongly consider a public option,” though it will require a large amount of thought and work.
“I think it’s something that ought to be on the table because we continue to see this consolidation in an already consolidated health insurance market,” he told California Healthline.
Mr. Jones said he does not want to prejudge what a public option would look like in California, and that there would be “significant reservations,” about California running a public option.
“I don’t know whether you would start in certain areas of the state and expand from there,” he said. “There would be a wide variety of governance models you could come up with.”
President Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders have voiced support for a government-run, public option for health insurance. Mr. Jones said he expects critics of the public option would point toward the closure of all but six health co-ops created under the ACA as proof the public option would fail. However, the commissioner said the co-ops failed because a Republican-majority Congress refused to allocate funding toward the co-ops.
More articles about payer issues:
Zoom+ health plan exits Oregon’s ACA exchange
House Republicans warn against settling risk corridor payment suits
10 payers in the headlines
