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.
Three months after Gov. Gavin Newsom required state workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing, his pledge that California government would lead by example has not been fulfilled: Many public agencies face low vaccination rates, and most state-run workplaces have failed to test unvaccinated employees. At the California Department of Forestry ...
California is the first state to let some adult children add their parents as dependents on their insurance plans, a move advocates hope will cover the small population of people living in the country illegally who don't qualify for other assistance programs.
The coming federal vaccine mandate could result in a wave of firings of employees who are reluctant to get the life-saving shots. That has many companies nervous that those jobs will be difficult to fill in a labor market where willing hands are increasingly hard to come by.
San Francisco will loosen its mask mandate for certain indoor spaces on Oct. 15, but in the city and much of the rest of the Bay Area, people will still be required to wear face coverings in most public places for the next couple of months and possibly into 2022, according to new rules announced Thursday.
Health insurers must cover the cost of coronavirus tests under a bill signed Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom that ensures Californians do not have to pay out-of-pocket fees or contend with prior authorization requirements, which have left some consumers with surprise medical bills and bureaucratic headaches. Federal and state laws were passed during the pandemic ...
Unvaccinated Californians were between 15 and 20 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than vaccinated ones when deaths from the disease most recently peaked at the start of September, according to state data. The California Department of Public Health publishes data on the vaccination status of people who test positive for coronavirus as well ...
California in August gave the state’s health care workers an ultimatum: Get vaccinated by Sept. 30 or submit to twice-weekly COVID-19 testing. So far, it appears to be working. Three major Sacramento-area health care systems say vaccination rates among employees are now higher than the general population. “It’s more than good, it’s very good,” said Dr. ...
California continues to have the lowest levels of coronavirus transmission in the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A federal judge on Monday ordered that all employees entering California prisons be vaccinated or have a religious or medical exemption, as he tries to head off another coronavirus outbreak like the one that killed 28 inmates and a correctional officer at San Quentin State Prison last year. Inmates who want in-person visits or who ...
Peter Lee, who has steered California’s Affordable Care Act marketplace since late 2011 and helped mold it into a model of what the federal health care law could achieve, announced Thursday he will leave his post in March.