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 is planning to start setting aside 10% of the COVID-19 vaccine the state receives each week to vaccinate teachers, day care workers and other school employees in the hopes of getting more students back in the classroom. “It must be done, and it must be done much sooner than the current path we are ...
Californians who qualify for a $600 state stimulus payment could see the money arrive as soon as a month after filing their tax returns under a $7.6-billion COVID-19 economic relief package approved Monday by the state Legislature. Crafted by Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders last week, the pandemic assistance plan also includes more than ...
California aims to vaccinate up to 3 million people a week by March 1 — more than double its current rate — under a distribution contract with Blue Shield that took effect Monday. The goal was set even as counties continued to face frustrating supply problems.
CHOICE Administrators announced today the launch of its redesigned website for CaliforniaChoice, America’s largest multi-carrier private health exchange for small business. This is a key milestone in the organization’s larger digitization strategy, which seeks to improve processes, including enrollment and renewals, for customers.
Covered California launched a new television ad campaign on Monday to reach uninsured Californians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ads support Covered California’s new special-enrollment period, which started on Feb. 1 and runs through May 15, to let uninsured Californians know that they still have time to sign up for health insurance. “Taking care of ...
It will take years, not months, to gain the upper hand in the coronavirus pandemic — and it will require thinking well beyond our borders, says Dr. Larry Brilliant. The 76-year-old Bay Area epidemiologist, who has worked to eradicate smallpox, polio and co-founded the Seva Foundation in Berkeley to combat blindness, has a unique perspective ...
The Pentagon has authorized more than 1,000 active-duty service members to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with its vaccination effort against COVID-19. The 1,110 active-duty troops will be broken up into teams of 222 people to support five state vaccination sites, according to a Defense Department fact sheet released Friday.
Nurses are cheering California’s decision to end emergency waivers to hospitals and nursing homes, which have allowed the institutions to require nurses to care for more patients than state law allows at any one time.
Citing the “change in administration,” the Department of Labor (DOL) has backed off its previous support for a lawsuit challenging the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program.
In the winter, the roughly three-hour drive from Alpine County’s main health clinic in Woodfords to the remote enclave of Bear Valley winds along snowy two-lane roads and over 8,000-foot mountain passes, circumventing the more direct route, which is closed for the season.