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.
The infamous image of the California grizzly bear stabbed with a butcher knife inscribed with the last name of Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon may have done more than blow up the Twittersphere last year.
A federal judge in 2017 rejected a proposed merger between health insurance giants Aetna and Humana, saying it would likely lessen competition.
As Wednesday’s midnight deadline approaches to enroll in a 2018 healthcare plan under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance broker Jonathan Greer is fielding calls from harried consumers buying policies at the last minute.
A civil war is brewing within California’s Democratic party.
After the contentious, sometimes-raucous first debate of this year’s primary election season, it became clear that issues like offshore oil drilling, affordable housing, President Trump’s tax changes, immigration and border control would likely not be the central themes of the campaign to succeed Jerry Brown as governor.
With Congress ending the requirement that all Americans have health insurance, California leaders are preparing to counter that move by securing health care for as many residents as possible in a fortified state insurance exchange.
On November 8, 2016, California voters passed Proposition 64, or the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which immediately made it legal for adults 21 years of age and older to possess and cultivate specific amounts of marijuana for recreational use. (Through a variety of legislative actions, this law and the existing California law pertaining to medicinal marijuana were combined, and the combination is now known as the Medical and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act.) As of January 1, 2018, California adults can now buy marijuana from dispensaries licensed by the state of California. While several states have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes, only eight have legalized recreational marijuana, and only very recently. In this brave new world, many employers...
The political battle lines over single-payer healthcare in California are growing starker, with an alliance of doctors, dentists, nurse practitioners and other health providers ramping up their opposition to the proposal.
Time has not healed all wounds between Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and the California Nurses Association. Rendon, a Paramount Democrat, infuriated the nurses last June when he abruptly shelvedSenate Bill 562, the measure they sponsored to create a government-run universal health care system in California, calling it “woefully incomplete.”
About 342,000 Californians have signed up for health insurance through Covered California since open enrollment began in November — up roughly 7 percent compared to this time last year, according to figures released by the agency Monday.