Sarah Varney, KQED

The Public Option Did Not Die

KFF Health News Original

Unique in the nation for having public health insurance plans that are run by counties, California has public plans that stretch from San Francisco to the Mexican border and cover 2.5 million people.

Local California Republicans Quietly Embrace Medicaid Expansion

KFF Health News Original

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the No. 3 Republican in the House, has made it clear that he wants President Obama’s health overhaul law repealed. But conservative lawmakers in his hometown of Bakersfield, Calif., and elsewhere in the state are expanding insurance coverage for low-income adults.