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.
Tax revenues have exceeded estimates in California, but Gov. Gavin Newsom’s spending proposals and other state costs could quickly swallow up any extra funds.
Los Angeles County announced its $2 billion Medical Debt Relief Program aimed at helping low-income residents settle past-due bills. “The launch of this program is a critical step forward in ensuring that those receiving critical medical services do not find themselves experiencing financial harm associated with not being able to afford care,” said Dr. Barbara ...
California, like other states, depends heavily on federal dollars to provide care for its poorest residents. Analyses in 2017 showed GOP’s proposals would cut Medicaid funds flowing from Washington by tens of billions of dollars, perhaps even more, forcing state officials to rethink the scope of Medi-Cal.
The much-anticipated launch of Blue Shield of California’s drug benefit venture with Amazon Pharmacy and the pharmacy benefit manager Abarca will debut in January, executives involved say. When the venture was first announced in August of last year, it sent the stocks of the nation’s largest managers of pharmacy benefits plummeting when Blue Shield confirmed it ...
State lawmakers gaveled in a special session Monday focused on a proposed $25-million litigation fund to respond to President-elect Donald Trump’s anticipated attacks on California policies on civil rights, climate change and abortion access.
As a new legislative session gets underway in Sacramento next week, officials are sending mixed signals about the state of the state budget and just how ambitious California can afford to be in the coming year. A mere week ago, the Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal adviser released its annual outlook, projecting a small deficit that could soon ...
California’s new initiative to compel treatment for some of the state’s most severely mentally ill residents — many of whom are living on the streets — is falling short of its initial objectives. But with the program expanding from 11 counties to all 58 on Dec. 1, state officials are projecting confidence that they can ...
California voters have approved Proposition 34, a measure from an apartment trade group that aimed to restrict spending by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has bankrolled several rent control initiatives and criticized the measure as unconstitutional revenge. The Associated Press called the initiative Wednesday evening. According to the California Secretary of State, the measure is ahead 50.8% ...
States are racing to have their Medicaid requests approved before the Trump administration takes power. The new administration is expected to have a very different view of Medicaid than the Biden administration, and GOP lawmakers in Congress are eyeing major changes.
When it comes to healthcare, California is now open for enrollment. Covered California, the state’s marketplace for health insurance is now open for residents, regardless of immigration status to shop for affordable health care. For this session it launched the “Let’s Talk About Health” initiative, as it hopes to get more people engaged when it ...