California Watch

In its latest effort to get more states to states to expand their Medicaid programs, health officials are emphasizing its role in paying for treatment of opioid abuse and mental health issues.

It took almost two months longer than expected, but Medicaid insurer Centene Corp. finally closed on its Health Net deal after winning approval from skeptical California regulators. The value of the deal, including debt, has been revised to $6 billion.

Pharmaceutical companies continue to pour cash into their campaign to defeat a California ballot measure that would limit prescription drug prices, a new campaign finance analysis shows.

Have you ever gone in for a medical procedure you knew was covered by your health plan, only to be hit weeks later by a large, unexpected bill from a doctor whose name you didn’t even recognize?

California health plan regulators are approving Centene's bid to purchase fellow insurer Health Net.

The Brown administration this week formally asked the U.S. government to sign off on a revamped tax on health plans that has the primary goal of continuing to pull in more than $1 billion in federal money.

California’s insurance exchange is threatening to cut hospitals from its networks for poor performance or high costs, a novel proposal that is drawing heavy fire from medical providers and insurers.

California’s health exchange may require its health plans to pay sales commissions to insurance agents to keep insurers from shunning the sickest and costliest patients.

Kaiser Permanente is moving forward with its ambitious plan to open a medical school that's more in tune with new technologies and local communities.

Rejecting critics and community concern, voting members of Seattle’s Group Health Cooperative have overwhelmingly agreed to join with the California health-care giant Kaiser Permanente.