California Watch
News stories in this section spotlight activities in California, including actions by the state Assembly and state Senate; proposed legislation; regulators like the Department of Managed Health Care and Department of Insurance; and the state ACA exchange, Covered California.
Instead of relying on a test of your infectiousness from Covid-19 and symptoms to determine the need to isolate, California now is ignoring the test results. California’s Department of Health recently made major changes to its isolation requirements, one based on symptoms alone. On January 9, Tomás J. Aragón, M.D., Dr.P.H., director of the CDPH, ...
The bill’s introduction comes days before Gov. Gavin Newsom would present his plan for closing the state’s $68 billion budget deficit. Newsom has repeatedly cited his commitment to protecting the expansion, which is estimated to cost $4 billion per year.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is revisiting California’s phase-in of a nation-leading $25 minimum wage for health workers in the face of a projected $38 billion deficit, less than three months after he approved the measure. But renegotiating wages could threaten a delicate compromise between unions and the health industry. Newsom, whose administration initially opposed the wage deal as too costly, ...
The winter COVID-and-flu season is ramping up in California and nationwide, with doctors and other experts saying the worst of the respiratory illness season is still to come. New data show pronounced recent jumps in the rate at which coronavirus and flu tests are coming back positive, as well as the number of hospital-admitted patients ...
Gov. Gavin Newsom gathered with city leaders and public safety officials Wednesday to urge support of Proposition 1, an overhaul of the state’s mental health system that will be on California’s March 5 primary election ballot. The measure would reform California’s Mental Health Services Act and create a $6.4-billion bond to provide 10,000 new behavioral-health beds. The plan ...
Surprise ambulance bills can leave families deeply in debt after a medical emergency. A new state law that forces insurance companies to negotiate payments is expected to save Californians tens of millions of dollars a year.
California became the first state on Monday to offer comprehensive health insurance to all undocumented immigrants, a plan expected to expand to roughly 700,000 residents living in the Golden State.
Under a new law, employees in California are guaranteed five paid sick days a year, two days more than previously. Worker advocacy groups say the benefit is needed, but business groups warn of additional costs.
California’s hospitals are getting busier with more COVID-19 and flu patients, some of whom are suffering from both viruses at the same time. The simultaneous sickness is another wrinkle in an already hectic respiratory virus season. Although hospitals are not nearly as crowded as during the emergency phase of the pandemic, they are becoming increasingly ...
If any year is looked back on as pivotal in California’s fight to curb mental illness, homelessness and drug-related deaths, 2023 could be the one. Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed major — and at times controversial — reforms of the state’s mental and behavioral health systems through the Legislature, but a mere two months after signing the laws, ...