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.
Lowering health costs emerged as a major part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2020 agenda earlier this month when he unveiled plans to get state government in the business of selling prescription drugs.
San Diego podiatrist Dr. John Chisholm recalls the jolt some of his patients felt in 2009 when Medi-Cal, the government-funded health insurance in California for low-income people, eliminated coverage for podiatry care and several other benefits for adults due to a massive budget shortfall engendered by the Great Recession.
California is known for progressive everything, including its health care policies, and, just a few weeks into 2020, state leaders aren’t disappointing.
The California Department of Managed Care put out its second report aimed at increasing transparency on prescription drug costs, but perhaps the most startling revelation from the document comes in a footnote showing that health plans greatly expanded their reporting the data.
Some 27,000 undocumented California senior citizens would receive Medi-Cal benefits under a funding proposal from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
California legislators on Tuesday introduced two bills aimed at improving access to mental health and addiction treatment by requiring health insurance companies to authorize some forms of treatment more quickly and to cover more comprehensive mental health services.
Medi-Cal had a big decade. The number of Californians enrolled in the state’s health insurance program for low-income residents swelled by 5.5 million from 2010 to 2019. It now covers 1 in 3 Californians and 40% of children.
At least two out of five California consumers are still not aware that they’ll face a tax penalty in 2021 if they don’t have health insurance coverage this year. That’s not good since open enrollment ends this month.
In a bold strategy to drive down prescription drug prices, Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing that California become the first state in the nation to establish its own generic drug label, making those medications available at an affordable price to the state’s 40 million residents.
Kathleen Hoechlin lost control as she crested a small jump on her final ski run of the day at California’s Mammoth Mountain two years ago. She landed hard on her back, crushing one of the vertebra in her lower spine “like a Cheerio,” she said.