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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.

Federal Appeals Court Takes Up Case That Could Upend U.S. Health System

The fate of the Affordable Care Act is again on the line Tuesday, as a federal appeals court in New Orleans takes up a case in which a lower court judge has already ruled the massive health law unconstitutional.

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Covered California Says Consumers Will See Lowest-Ever Premium Hike for Individual Policies

Covered California announced Tuesday morning that it expects an average premium increase of 0.8 percent for 2020 in the state’s individual marketplace, the lowest such rate change since the health insurance exchange started business in 2013.

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Medi-Cal Enrollment Among Immigrant Kids Stalls, Then Falls. Is Fear To Blame?

As California prepares to expand Medicaid coverage to young adults living in the state illegally, the number of undocumented immigrant children in the program is slowly declining, new state data show.

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Trump, California Governor Spar Over Immigrant Health Care

California’s governor vowed on Monday to continue expanding taxpayer funded health benefits to adults living in the country illegally next year, ensuring the volatile issue will get top billing in the 2020 presidential election as Democrats vying for the nomination woo voters in the country’s most populous state.

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Proposal to Change Poverty Calculations Could Cause 60,000 to Lose Public Benefits in California

California advocacy groups are decrying a Trump administration proposal to change one of the measurements to determine the federal poverty level, a move that could force tens of thousands of state residents to lose their public benefits over the next decade.

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California Legislature Oks Health Insurance Mandate

The California Legislature voted Monday to tax people who refuse to buy health insurance, bringing back a key part of former President Barack Obama's health care law in the country's most populous state after it was eliminated by Republicans in Congress.

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New Budget Boosts Health Coverage For Low-Income Californians

Ann Manganello survives entirely off her Social Security stipend: $1,391 a month. That doesn’t amount to much in the pricey desert enclave of Palm Springs, Calif. — especially for someone who contends with a host of expensive medical problems, including a blood vessel disorder, complications from a recent stroke and frequent bouts of colitis.

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CalPERS Health Insurance Will Cost More Next Year, but Not as Much as Insurers Wanted

Health insurance premiums for CalPERS members are going up next year, but rates will be lower than insurers initially requested, according to 2020 rates published Tuesday.

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California Vaccine Bill Amended To Appease Governor

A California lawmaker on Tuesday made substantial changes to his contentious vaccine bill after Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials raised concerns that the measure was too strict and gave too much power to bureaucrats to decide which children could skip their routine shots.

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State Budget Gives Health Care to Some Undocumented Immigrants. Arambula Wants to Go Further

Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula intends to continue pushing to expand health care options for all undocumented immigrants in California even though the state’s new $214.8 billion budget provides coverage to a fraction of them.

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