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 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.
In a small room at a neighborhood clinic in Sacramento, a handful of hepatitis C patients wait to see their physician, hoping they’ll be found sick enough to be approved for a cure.
In a move called both symbolic and practical, the Covered California board took the first step Thursday toward allowing undocumented residents to purchase health plans – with no state or federal subsidies – through California’s Obamacare marketplace.
Federal investigators found significant cybersecurity weaknesses in the health insurance websites of California, Kentucky and Vermont that could enable hackers to get their hands on sensitive personal information about hundreds of thousands of people, The Associated Press has learned. And some of those flaws have yet to be fixed.
Moving into a realm usually reserved for health care regulators, Covered California Thursday unveiled sweeping reforms to its contracts with insurers, seeking to improve the quality of care, curb its cost and increase transparency for consumers.
The State of California’s dental health system for the poor is “dysfunctional” according to ascathing report issued Friday by a bipartisan oversight commission.
In a few months, California will begin providing full Medi-Cal coverage to all low-income children — regardless of their immigration status.
It wasn’t until a doctor ordered medical tests for Adriana Vitale that she discovered her Covered California coverage had disappeared. “I was shocked. I was crying. I was depressed,” said Vitale, 61, of Downey.