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 bill, passed Thursday in California’s senate and assembly, AB-112, would establish a Distressed Hospital Loan Program through Jan. 1, 2032. The program would provide interest-free loans to nonprofit and public hospitals “in significant financial distress,” as well as to “governmental entities representing a closed hospital to prevent the closure or facilitate the reopening of a closed hospital.”
In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed and the Legislature approved a tax penalty on Californians without health insurance. That money was supposed to be used to lower costs for those insured through Covered California, but that has only happened once.
A new KFF analysis finds that an estimated 1.7 million Medicaid enrollees could become ineligible for federal Medicaid under proposed work requirements and presents state-by-state projections, based on estimates of coverage loss from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). States could continue to provide Medicaid to those enrollees but would not receive federal matching funds for doing so. ...
Kaiser Permanente is acquiring 10-hospital Geisinger Health in a deal described as the first step toward a new multisystem value-based care organization, according to a Wednesday announcement.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is directing the California Highway Patrol and National Guard to assist San Francisco authorities in combating the fentanyl crisis in the city. The two agencies will be partnering with the local police department and the district attorney's office to attempt to stem trafficking of the deadly synthetic opioid.
The Medical Board of California may soon get a significant boost to its enforcement powers, but some are already saying that proposed changes do not go far enough. On a unanimous vote Monday, the state Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development approved a “sunset review” bill that would allow the board to continue ...
Starting next year, California will join at least 10 states — including Colorado, Maryland, and Massachusetts — using tax forms to point people toward the lower-cost coverage available through state insurance marketplaces.
A slew of very informal-looking COVID-19 testing sites, paying passersby $5 a pop for taking a COVID test, is drawing another round of scrutiny for their lack of licensed staff and apparent flouting of public health protocols. Among the slew of maybe- or maybe-not permitted vending booths crowding the sidewalks of 24th and Mission Streets, in recent ...
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in earnest, low-income Californians who enrolled in Medi-Cal — California’s version of the government-funded Medicaid health insurance program — have been able to keep their coverage without having to prove every year that they still qualified for it. That’s because the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which President Trump signed ...
“California has taken action proactively to enact strong consumer protections into state law, including requirements on health plans to cover preventive care with no cost sharing to enrollees.