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.
California is weighing stiff penalties for hospitals and other healthcare entities that don’t stay under state spending limits, potentially levying hundreds of millions of dollars in fines if these providers don’t take steps to rein in rising healthcare costs. If the state Office of Health Care Affordability adopts the fines next week, hospitals, medical groups, ...
Jane Kim, backed by Bernie Sanders, could ride the progressive wave. Ben Allen has the CA Democratic party’s endorsement for the insurance commissioner job.
By the time Democrat Xavier Becerra left Washington, D.C., more Americans than ever had health insurance, owing partly to his work over the years to pass, defend, and expand the Affordable Care Act. It’s an achievement the former congressman and U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services often touts as he campaigns for California governor against Republican Steve Hilton, a former ...
California is not changing its childhood vaccination recommendations, or its requirement to have health insurers cover the inoculations, after President Donald Trump’s executive order that calls for reducing the number of vaccines U.S. children receive, state health officials say. The executive order, signed this week, calls for scaling back the number of routine childhood vaccinations, splitting the MMR ...
At a Walgreens in this city’s bustling Japantown neighborhood, pharmacist Margaret On stocks two boxes of long-acting insulin pens from California’s new prescription drug label, CalRx, emblazoned with the state’s iconic grizzly bear. Although she hasn’t dispensed any, On plans to keep them on hand. “It’s good to have if a patient comes in and doesn’t ...
A quiet change in California law in 2018 unleashed a deluge of new hospices and spurred millions of dollars in Medicare fraud that state and federal authorities are still trying to unwind. Hospices shared addresses with burrito stands, car repair shops and vacant lots. They piled into nondescript office buildings offering cheap rent, month-to-month leases ...
California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, is slashing asset limits 84% in July 2027. As a result, Medi-Cal members risk losing eligibility — and insurers are feeling the pressure. In 2022, California lifted the asset limit from $2,000 to $130,000 for individuals. CMS eventually approved a state proposal to drop the asset test, but California resurfaced the limits at the beginning of 2026. The 2027 ...
“This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.” Two years ago, California hit a milestone decades in the making: Nearly every person in the state qualified for health insurance, regardless of immigration status and income, pushing the state’s insured rate to a record 95%. Now that progress is unravelling. Facing budget ...
Medi-Cal cuts will strain hospitals already operating at a loss. The fallout: fewer services and higher costs for the privately insured too.
“This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.” In the matter of a few clicks and keystrokes, anyone can find themselves deep in conversation with “Psychologist,” a chatbot character that describes itself as an expert in “empathy” and “active listening.” It responds to messages of anxiety and sadness with reassurance. It ...