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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.

Covered California Enrollee Fights Blue Shield Plan to Limit Out-of-State Care

Blue Shield of California is unfairly targeting hundreds of thousands of Covered California enrollees with a coverage change that would prevent them from getting routine care when they are working outside of California, one enrollee told The Sacramento Bee.

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New Payment Model Tackles ‘Surprise Medical Bill’ Issue

Even when patients go out of their way to find hospitals and labs in their insurance network, they might end up getting treated by an out-of-network specialist.

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Hospitals Must Now Post Their Prices Online

Hoping to empower consumers who are shouldering more and more of their health care costs each year, the federal government this year is requiring hospitals across the country to post their standard price lists on their websites.

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Insurers Blame Specialty Drug Costs for Rising Premiums. This Report from California Shows Why

Specialty drugs made up about 3% of prescriptions in California in 2017 but accounted for more than half of the prescription drug spending that year, according to new report that compiled drug spending from nine insurers in that state.

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En Route To Congress, California Democrats Hit Wall On ‘Medicare-For-All’

Each of the seven California Democrats who flipped Republican congressional seats in the midterm election campaigned for more government-funded health care — with most of them calling for a complete government takeover.

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Newsom Health Plan Would Restore Obamacare Mandate, Expand Access for Undocumented

On his first day in office, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a sweeping health care plan that would prop up the Affordable Care Act, expand health care for undocumented immigrants and give the state new powers to negotiate drug prices.

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Judge Strikes Down ACA Putting Law In Legal Peril – Again

The future of the Affordable Care Act is threatened — again — this time by a ruling Friday from a federal district court judge in Texas.

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Covered California Extends Deadline After Anti-Obamacare Federal Court Ruling

California's health care marketplace has extended the deadline for people to sign up for insurance that will start on Jan. 1, 2019, in response to a federal court ruling handed down on Friday that invalidated the Affordable Care Act.

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Feds Say California May Have Spent Nearly $1B On Ineligible Medi-Cal Benefiaries

Federal auditors estimate that California may have paid nearly $1 billion in 2014 and 2015 to provide Medicaid benefits for people who were ineligible for the government health program, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General.

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Cigna-Express Scripts Nears Finish Line with Approvals from California and New York

Cigna's $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts cleared regulatory hurdles in two states on Thursday, putting the deal on pace to close by the end of the year.

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