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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.

Primary Care Physician Visits Drop Among Patients with Employer Plans

NPs and PAs have recently taken on a larger role in primary care. Health experts say those roles will help fill primary care gaps in the coming years with physician shortages expected.

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Waiting on 2 States, CVS Delays Aetna Deal Closing Until After Thanksgiving

CVS expects to close its $69 billion acquisition of Aetna after the Thanksgiving holiday. 

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Gov.Elect Gavin Newsom Names Former Clinton Advisor His Chief of Staff

Moving swiftly to fill the highest-ranking member of his nascent administration, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom tapped Ann O’Leary, a longtime policy advisor to Hillary Clinton, to serve as his chief of staff and a leader of the transition team this fall.

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Dems Get Full Supermajority

Melissa Hurtado was confident she could unseat State Sen. Andy Vidak, R-Hanford.

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Covered California Pops And Locks Into Individual Coverage Enrollment Season

What do hip-hop dancing and health insurance have in common?

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Express Scripts Ramps Up List-Price Pressure With Newfangled ‘Flex’ Formulary

During a yearslong examination of drug prices, there’s been no shortage of criticism for growing list prices, and in recent months, some companies have heard the talk and lowered their prices. Now, top PBM Express Scripts is rolling out a new formulary to help support the moves—and the plan could heap more pressure on players in competitive drug classes.

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Breach of Obamacare Site Spilled Sensitive Data

More than two weeks after announcing that the Obamacare website, HealthCare.gov, had been hacked, the Department of Health and Human Services has revealed that the breach exposed a wealth of information, including partial Social Security numbers and immigration status.

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8 Results We’re Watching on Election Day with big Healthcare Implications

Healthcare has been a central theme of the 2018 election, arguably more so than any other election in recent history. 

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Health Coverage Disparities Eliminated Under ACA for Most Racial Groups, Report Finds

African Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders living in California are just as likely to have health insurance as whites, marking a significant turnaround from five years ago, new data shows.

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Despite Criticism and Concerns, FDA Approves A New Opioid 10 Times More Powerful than Fentanyl

In a highly controversial move, the Food and Drug Administration approved an especially powerful opioid painkiller despite criticism that the medicine could be a “danger” to public health. And in doing so, the agency addressed wider regulatory thinking for endorsing such a medicine amid nationwide angst about overdoses and deaths attributed to opioids.

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