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.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Friday that, after a six-year investigation, he has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Sacramento-based Sutter Health in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging that the health-care company has used its market power to control prices and exclude competition.
California is among a group of states that have taken drug prices into their own hands, with lawmakers last year passing a bill aimed at shining new light on the pricing process. Now, the state is starting to see early results.
Sarah Hesketh of the California Association of Public Hospitals — which represents 21 hospitals that are all both disproportionately reliant on Medicaid and enrolled in 340B — said that should providers decide to stay enrolled in 340B to get discounts for their Medicare patients they would continue to be subject to the 340B provider rules banning them from group negotiations for lower drug prices. This would have the unintended consequence of hurting the providers who care for the most Medicaid patients.
California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon is refusing to advance this year a controversial single-payer health care bill that would dramatically reshape the state's health care financing and delivery system. Instead, he's orchestrating an alternative, narrower approach that seeks to achieve universal coverage and make Obamacare more affordable.
California Medicaid Expansion Enrolled Hundreds of Thousands Ineligible People, Federal Report Finds
California signed up an estimated 450,000 people under Medicaid expansion who may not have been eligible for coverage, according to a report by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department's chief watchdog.
People living in areas where there is greater consolidation among hospitals, physician groups and insurance companies pay more for health care, according to a study released Monday.
Hospital mergers—and the effect of those mergers on medical costs—have caught the eye of California elected officials.
As progressive activists clamor for California to push ahead a sweeping single-payer health plan, a legislative report released Tuesday cautioned that such an overhaul would take years.
Antonio Villaraigosa thinks he has a solid weapon to hammer Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom with as they run for governor. And he probably does.
Across the country, people who buy health insurance on exchanges could see their premiums rise between 12 and 32 percent in 2019, according to an analysis released Thursday by Covered California, the state exchange that sells insurance to 1.2 million residents who don’t receive health coverage through their employers.