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, the state’s health insurance marketplace, is the first Affordable Care Act (ACA) health exchange to impose quality and cost standards on health plans and providers.
California legislators are attempting to clear the way for undocumented immigrants to buy health insurance through the state’s insurance exchange — potentially setting a national precedent.
Doctors who are on probation after being disciplined by state regulators would have to share that information with patients before providing care under a bill making its way through the state Senate.
The California state Senate’s Committee on Health Wednesday put its stamp of approval on legislation that would oblige prescription drug manufacturers to give advance notice and written justification for significant price increases.
Lynn Kersey has some advice for pregnant women who bought health insurance policies from Covered California and want to keep them: Don’t report your pregnancy to the agency.
What happens when you mix health care and taxes — the two most complicated systems in the nation? When things go wrong, you can end up with something exponentially more complex.
The policy shift is in the agency's new contract with insurers, approved by the Covered California board last week. It will affect preferred provider network plans - PPOs - in particular. A consumer favorite, PPO plans allow members to go to any doctor – specialist or otherwise – without a referral from a primary care physician.
California would be the first state in the nation to ask the federal government to allow immigrants in the country illegally to purchase health insurance through a state exchange under new proposed legislation.
A lobbying group for California hospitals is giving $8.5 million to an initiative campaign to extend a temporary tax increase on the wealthy.
For 10 days in February, the staff at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center had to treat patients the old fashioned way with pen-and-paper forms, faxes and hand-delivered X-rays. Gone were many of the data-reliant, high-tech tools that have transformed medical care, according to local media reports.