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.
More than half of Californians fear they or their loved ones will lose health coverage if the Affordable Care Act is repealed and replaced, a new statewide poll shows.
Sutter Health and Aetna Inc. are launching a jointly owned health plan for Northern California, in the first time that Aetna (NYSE: AET) has entered a joint partnership with a health system in California.
The state exchange will now require insurers to create health plans outside of Covered California that would provide the same discounts on out-of-pocket costs that consumers get now with the so-called cost-sharing subsidies. To make up for not receiving the subsidies, insurers would be allowed to charge higher premiums - from 15 to 17 percent higher, according to Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee.
When the California Medical Association lent its support to Prop. 56 last year, they expected to get something in return if it passed: a Medi-Cal pay raise.
While several states are fretting over potential health insurer shortages and lofty rate hikes for 2018 individual coverage, California's exchange seems to be a shining example of an insurance exchange gone right.
As they scrambled to finalize next year’s state budget, California lawmakers this week abruptly dropped a plan to offer full Medicaid benefits to young adults living in the country illegally.
Emergency room visits by people on Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program, rose 75% over five years from 800,000 in the first quarter of 2012 to 1.4 million in the last quarter of 2016, according to California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development.
I am a lifelong Democrat who has worked for more than a decade to improve the policies and build the coalitions necessary for the success of the Affordable Care Act. Even so, I believe the ACA didn’t go far enough to guarantee universal and affordable health coverage.
If the federal government does not clarify by mid-August whether it will continue an important health insurance subsidy for consumers next year, California’s state-run exchange will instruct its insurers to sell plans with significantly higher premiums to cover the loss of the money.
California lawmakers introduced legislation Monday that would allow $465 million in higher payments for doctors and dentists who provide publicly funded care.