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.
Denise Roberts is still coping with complications from a life-threatening bout of Valley Fever three years ago that claimed part of a lung. Roberts, who lives in Doyle, Calif., a tiny rural community near the Nevada border, typically drives to Reno for the care she needs. Specialists in her own state, she said, are too far away.
Rules that could give immigrants reason to avoid enrolling in health safety net programs would deliver a blow to California’s economy, costing the state thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic output, a new study concluded.
A single-payer health care system may yet prove to be the best alternative for California and the nation. But Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom should make clear that the Legislature shouldn’t waste time on any legislation in 2019 unless it includes a prudent financial plan that makes sense for California consumers, health care providers and business interests.
Influential Democratic state lawmakers are re-introducing bills Monday to give immigrants without legal status access to Medi-Cal, California’s health care program for low-income people.
Los Angeles pediatrician Ilan Shapiro has seen a dramatic turnaround in how young patients get their health care since 2014, when the Affordable Care Act went into full effect.
Momentum is building among House Democrats for a more moderate alternative to single-payer health-care legislation.
Insurers that participate in Medicare’s prescription drug program would be able to exclude certain drugs if prices rise faster than inflation as part of a new proposal from the Trump administration.
It remains to be seen how disruptive Amazon will be in the prescriptions space now that it has its own online pharmacy. The company snagged PillPack, which focuses on delivering individualized rolls of presorted medicines to people who manage multiple daily medications.
Traditional tax-qualified long-term care insurance policies now have new tax deductibility limits, according to the IRS.
U.S. health officials said Monday they plan to overhaul the nation’s decades-old system for approving most medical devices, which has long been criticized by experts for failing to catch problems with risky implants and related products.