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.
CalMatters recently reported on a cluster of lawsuits against nursing homes owned by Los Angeles entrepreneur Shlomo Rechnitz. Here are takeaways from our special report.
Sutter Health plans to open a major new hospital in Santa Clara by 2031, the provider announced Monday. The eight-story, 850,000-square-foot facility from one of Northern California’s largest hospital systems will include 272 beds, an emergency department, intensive care unit, labor and delivery department and other services. It will be located at 2831 and 2841 ...
This year’s open enrollment for Covered California comes at a pivotal time. If Congress does not extend the tax credits as part of the government shutdown deal, hundreds of thousands of Californians who have the state’s health insurance could see a 97% increase in monthly premiums. “We do estimate as many as 400,000 of our current enrollees could be ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued new guidance allowing Medicare Advantage plans to maintain coverage of certain telehealth services that technically expired when federal telehealth authorities lapsed on October 1, 2025. Under the announcement, CMS will temporarily waive the prohibition on mid-year benefit changes to permit plans to continue offering these ...
David Delfiner and Lisa Parsons received a shocking letter from their health insurance provider when they checked their mail last week. Their monthly health insurance cost will increase from $350 a month this year to $2,221 starting in 2026. “It’s insane. It’s unbelievable,” said Parsons, a 59-year-old retiree living in South Lake Tahoe. The couple is not ...
Luca-Amine Hadir was 4 days old when his parents raced him to the ER. His mother, Jill McDonald, had wanted her child to have a gentle transition into the world, and Luca’s first four days were just that. He was born at home in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood, in spring 2020 — Jill, now ...
A major union announced a proposal Thursday to impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires in California to address federal funding cuts to health care for low-income people. Proponents, including the Service Employees International Union, hope to place the statewide measure before voters next year. The tax would be on the net worth of California’s ...
Hospitals argue that spending caps imposed by an affordability office will result in layoffs, cuts in health care services and reduced access to care for Californians.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a major state major medical insurance benefits bill into law this week. The Democrat also vetoed some health benefits bills, arguing that those bills would do too much to weaken health plan care utilization management efforts and increase plan costs. The new EHB package law could have a direct effect on ...
A five-day strike that affected hundreds of Kaiser Permanente clinics and hospitals in California and Hawaii came to an end after the union representing workers said it had “new momentum” to head back to the bargaining table, but no apparent agreement has been reached. “This strike may be over — but the fight for patient ...