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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.

Cost of Covering New People Under ACA Significantly Higher than Expected

The cost of covering people who qualified for Medicaid as part of the federal health law was significantly higher than expected in 2014, federal actuaries said Friday.

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GOP Planning to Use Reconciliation ‘to go after ObamaCare’

A top House Republican on Friday vowed to keep fighting to repeal ObamaCare through budget reconciliation even as the tactic is losing support from some within the GOP.

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Obama Nominates Former UnitedHealth Exec Slavitt to Run Medicare and Medicaid

WASHINGTON – President Obama has nominated former UnitedHealth Group executive Andy Slavitt to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Slavitt, whose nomination is subject to Senate approval, has been working as acting administrator of the government health insurance ­programs since February. He came to the national stage in 2013 while helping fix ...

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Health Law’s Contraceptive Rule Eased for Business With Religious Objections

The Obama administration issued new rules on Friday that allow closely held for-profit corporations like Hobby Lobby Stores to opt out of providing women with insurance coverage for contraceptives if the companies have religious objections.

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Higher Costs for Obamacare’s New Medicaid Patients

Those new checkups are forcing the government to write bigger checks—at least for now.

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Medicare Plans to Pay Doctors for Counseling on End of Life

Medicare, the federal program that insures 55 million older and disabled Americans, announced plans on Wednesday to reimburse doctors for conversations with patients about whether and how they would want to be kept alive if they became too sick to speak for themselves.

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Blitz Against ObamaCare ‘Cadillac Tax’ Launches

A coalition of K Street health giants are teaming up to fight the ObamaCare tax on high-cost insurance plans known as the “Cadillac tax."

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Medi-Cal Beneficiaries See Gaps In Access to Health Care

Medi-Cal beneficiaries face "significant" gaps in access to care compared with individuals who are enrolled in employer-sponsored health plans, according to a study published by the California HealthCare Foundation, Payers & Providers reports. CHCF publishes California Healthline.

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Uninsured Rate Hits Lowest Level to Date, Boosting ObamaCare

The uninsured rate has dropped to its lowest level since Gallup began tracking the statistic in 2008.

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States Line Up To Scrutinize Aetna’s $33 Billion Humana Deal

U.S. insurance regulators and state attorneys general are lining up to scrutinize Aetna Inc's proposed $33 billion takeover of rival Humana Inc for potential harm to consumers, complicating what is already expected to be a tough and lengthy review by federal antitrust authorities.

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