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.
Two states that run their own Obamacare markets—California and Washington—are blowing away the much-larger, federally run HealthCare.gov when it comes to signing up customers during a tax season grace period.
A California program that subsidizes the cost of dental services for millions of low-income children and adults has come under scrutiny in recent months for the relatively small number of people served. Critics say they hope the attention will finally drive positive changes in the program commonly known as Denti-Cal. The most recent round of ...
It may be spring outside, but HealthCare.gov seems to be ice cold. Fewer than 70,000 people have signed up for health insurance on that federal marketplace during a tax-season grace period that began March 15 and has just 10 days left to go, officials revealed Monday. If that paltry response doesn’t improve soon, millions of ...
A California Senate Health Committee voted 7-0 Wednesday to expand health care coverage for all Californians, regardless of their immigration status. The bill by Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, would expand Medi-Cal eligibility for immigrants here illegally who are income-eligible. It is one of 10 bills that aims to expand the rights of people who ...
Covered California’s small employer insurance program is growing, but a private-sector competitor is growing faster. CaliforniaChoice has 12,070 employers in its program and 218,648 enrollees. That’s up from 11,500 employers and 150,000 members last August. By comparison, Covered California has 2,289 employers and 15,633 enrollees, up from 1,7000 employers and 11,500 members in August. Both ...
The largest publicly run health plan in the nation, L.A. Care, will allow customers who do not have traditional bank accounts to pay their health insurance premiums with cash. One in four Americans who were previously uninsured and eligible for federal insurance subsidies do not have a bank account, relying instead on pre-paid debit cards, ...
Mark Morgan, 48, president of the company's California business since 2013, will depart April 24.
As consumers increasingly are being asked to pay a larger share of their health bills, a coalition of insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and provider and consumer advocacy groups launched Thursday a new push for greater transparency regarding the actual costs of services.
By weaving together a hodgepodge of patient information, clinical data and scientific know-how, California officials hope to create a sort of "Google Maps for health" to drive the right therapies to the right people at the right time.
California ranked in the bottom five states on overall growth during open enrollment this year, according to an analysis by Avalere Health, in large part because it trailed only Vermont and Washington state in retaining 2014 enrollees among states that reported full results.