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.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders on Monday agreed to a $310.8-billion budget spending plan that will reduce investments in fighting climate change and reflects a compromise on the governor’s last-minute proposal to speed up infrastructure projects across California. The 2023-24 budget deal, which lawmakers will vote on in a series of bills this ...
Your small business clients may be eligible to apply for reimbursement of costs incurred in connection with the California COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave program. Qualifying employers are eligible for $5,000 to $50,000. Funds awarded can be used solely to reimburse California employers that offered COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave between January 1, 2022, through ...
SB 770, a bill advancing Single Payer in California passed off the Senate Floor last week and is now heading to the Assembly Health Committee.
A recent news report quoted a New Jersey Dental Association spokesman who warned, “Your routine dental treatment could be delayed for weeks or months because of our dental workforce shortages.” The mass exodus of dental hygienists and dental assistants began during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving dentists short-staffed, overworked, and having to perform services usually accomplished by dental ...
Ultrasound technologist Georgette Bradford considers herself blessed. After 19 years with Kaiser Permanente, she’s not struggling to get by, or considering leaving the field for a more lucrative role at a less risky workplace. She says that sets her apart from many of her coworkers at Kaiser, and fellow members of the SEIU California union. ...
Lawmakers in the California Senate advanced a bill Wednesday that would raise the minimum wage for health care workers and support staffers to $25 an hour. The union-supported bill, introduced by Los Angeles Democratic Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, would require any “covered health care facility” to pay the new minimum wage to all workers on ...
Democratic lawmakers say they agreed to fine Californians without health insurance on the condition the state use that money to lower costs for residents purchasing coverage on the state exchange. They say Gov. Gavin Newsom has reneged on the deal.
When the pain kicked in again in February, Lahisha Marquez-Soto held off on going to the hospital for days, until she was struggling to walk out of her college dorm in Carson. Eight days into her stay at MLK Community Hospital, doctors knew she needed another facility. She needed a medical procedure that would allow ...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation creating a $150 million loan program for financially distressed hospitals into law May 15.
Prices for the 100-year-old drug have increased more than 600% in the past 20 years, and stories of patients rationing doses abound. Even the most conservative economists point to it as an example of a market gone sour.