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.
Not-for-profit hospitals increasingly are entering the health insurance market in an effort to boost revenue during a period of slow growth,according to a report released last week by Moody’s Investors Service, Modern Healthcare reports. According to the report, the hospitals are making such moves even as the startup costs and short-term losses have put a ...
Efforts are underway to jump-start negotiations to come up with an equitable tax on health plans that will fill a $1.1 billion gap in the Medi-Cal budget. Legislative leaders announced conference committee appointments Wednesday, after lawmakers failed to come up with a fix before the regular legislative session ended Sept. 11. That wasn’t a formal ...
When it comes to health care costs, it’s clear: Where you live matters. And in California, the gap is especially sharp between the north and south. Take, for instance, common procedures like a cesarean section or a total knee replacement. The total average price tag for a typical C-section in the four-county Sacramento area is ...
Prime Healthcare, which backed out of its proposed bid to buy six Daughters of Charity Health System hospitals, including two in the Southland, after disagreeing with conditions imposed on the sale sued the state’s attorney general Monday for allegedly abusing her constitutional powers. In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, Prime Healthcare ...
In a significant yardstick of how health care coverage has blanketed the country under the Affordable Care Act, California ranked among states recording the biggest drop – 4.7 percent – in uninsured residents from 2013 to 2014, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Wednesday. The new data confirm California has seen “one of the ...
Lifting some of the secrecy surrounding California healthcare, state officials unveiled a website where consumers can look up average prices for common medical procedures — as well as quality scores for providers. California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, consumer advocates and researchers hailed the online tool launched Monday as the first step in prying more detailed ...
California’s pharmacists would be required to provide prescription drug labels or medication instructions in five languages besides English under a bill passed unanimously Thursday by California lawmakers. The bill, AB 1073, will be sent to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature and would take effect Jan. 1 if signed into law. Upon request from patients ...
On Tuesday, the California Senate voted 24-15 to approve a bill (AB 305) that would prohibit medical problems primarily affecting women from being considered pre-existing conditions when calculating workers’ compensation benefits, the AP/Washington Times reports. The bill now returns to the Assembly for a final vote. Details of AB 305 According to state Sen. Marty ...
California has adopted a series of laws in recent years to help people in the country illegally, and polls show broad support for a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 2 million such immigrants living in the state. But it’s a different story when it comes to providing them healthcare benefits. California voters are sharply ...
California had the most health insurance exchange enrollees of any state, with about 1.4 million enrollees as of June 30, according to new federal data, The Hill reports (Sullivan, The Hill, 9/8). Details of Exchange Enrollees Overall, the data show about 9.9 million U.S. residents had selected and paid for health coverage through the federal ...