In 2010, California was ranked the 26th healthiest state in America by the United Health Foundation. Despite these rankings, California health insurance is still a major concern throughout the state, for at least 19.3 percent of the population lacks any form of medical coverage. Fortunately, there are many new initiatives at both the state and federal level to help provide more affordable coverage.

For example, the 2010 health reform includes the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, which creates a prevention fund of more than $16 billion to invest in prevention efforts to deal with childhood obesity and tobacco cessation. While this act does not directly provide health insurance, its implantation over the next 10 years will help lower health costs for the general population, consequently making insurance more affordable for the average American.

Furthermore, California now participates in the Major Risk Medical Insurance Program. This initiative provides federal funding to offer health insurance to high-risk pools. This category includes persons and families with major medical problems who are unable to maintain medical insurance because of pre-existing health conditions. In most cases, this program allows people to switch jobs or become self-employed without the fear of losing company medical insurance that would cover the expense of pre-existing conditions.

For more information on California health insurance, visit the links on Business.com.