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 officials have fined health care giant Kaiser Permanente $2.5 million for failing to turn over required data on patient care to the state’s Medicaid program. The California Department of Health Care Services said this was the first fine imposed against one of its Medicaid managed care plans since at least 2000. The state relies on the data to help set rates, ensure adequate care is available and monitor how taxpayer dollars are being spent in the program, known as Medi-Cal in California.
How much would Californians be willing to spend to keep Obamacare in the Golden State? That’s a question lawmakers might be asking residents in the months to come as President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress scurry to repeal the Affordable Care Act and scramble for a plan to replace it.
California has withdrawn its request to the federal government for permission to allow undocumented people to obtain health insurance from the state exchange, with a lawmaker linking the decision to concerns about the incoming Trump administration.
Thousands of Covered California enrollees face higher-than-expected bills from their insurers because the exchange sent incorrect tax credit information to the health plans.
California and other states could keep their federally funded insurance exchange with consumer protections intact under a proposal unveiled Monday by two Republican U.S. Senators.
Federal officials this month warned 21 Medicare Advantage insurers with high rates of errors in their online network directories that they could face heavy fines or have to stop enrolling people if the problems are not fixed by Feb. 6.
Paula Wilson has seen some tough times in her 23 years as the CEO of Valley Community Healthcare, a clinic that provides care for the poor in North Hollywood, Calif. But nothing was quite like November 9, the day after the U.S. elections, when walking around the office “was like coming into a funeral,” she said.
Eighteen million people could lose their insurance within a year and individual insurance premiums would shoot upward if Congress repealed major provisions of the Affordable Care Act while leaving other parts in place, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday. A report by the office sharply increases pressure on Republicans to come up with a comprehensive plan to replace the health care law. It is likely to doom the idea of voting to dismantle the 2010 health law almost immediately, with an effective date set sometime in the future while Congress works toward a replacement.
The Word & Brown Companies announced the sale of HealthCompare, Quotit, and a book of Medicare and Individual and Family Plan (IFP) focused business to National General Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq:NGHC). The sale does not affect small group, large group, or IFP business through the Word & Brown General Agency.
Nearly 10,000 Covered California policy holders have lost their federal tax credits — at least temporarily — due to a bookkeeping error by the state health insurance exchange.