Covered CA executive director says improving healthcare literacy is state's primary task

The only thing harder than rolling out President Barack Obama's health care law is changing the health care industry culture, Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee said Thursday night at the Barbara Lee & Elihu Harris Lecture at Merritt College. Despite exceeding expectations by enrolling 3.3 million Californians in Covered California's marketplace of insurance programs or Medi-Cal during its first six months, he said the initiative was "relatively succeeding" and "only just beginning." "When we look back 10 years from now, we'll say, 'Can you imagine a day when we didn't have (universal) health care?'" Lee said.