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Industry Updates

This broad category includes articles concerning health insurance costs, carrier and health plan news, changing benefits technology, and surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation and others on employee benefits.

Can California Keep Offering Cheap Health Care? Here’s What State Network’s New CEO Says

Jessica Altman took over in March as chief executive officer of Covered California, and even as she was settling into a new home in Sacramento she also was making the rounds with congressional leaders to drive home just how much Californians want access to health insurance. The greatest barrier to getting it is all too ...

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5 Employment-Related Job Killer Bills Pass to Second House

Five California Chamber of Commerce employment-related job killer proposals have moved on to the second house, passing a key legislative deadline on May 27 that required nontax-related bills to pass out of the house in which they were introduced. The following five employment-related bills passed the house of origin deadline on Friday: AB 2183 (Stone; D-Scotts Valley) Forced ...

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California Legislature Advances Controversial Effort To Restrict Health Sector Consolidation

A controversial push to restrict anti-competitive practices like consolidation in California’s health sector has cleared a major hurdle with its approval from the Assembly last week. Despite consistent disagreements over the bill’s provisions, the Assembly ultimately passed Assembly Bill 2080 with a 45-19 vote. It now needs to clear the Senate. Intended to combat the high health care ...

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Computer Glitches and Human Error Still Causing Insurance Headaches for Californians

Since California expanded health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, a large number of people have been mistakenly bounced between Covered California, the state’s marketplace for those who buy their own insurance, and Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program for low-income residents. Small income changes can cause people’s eligibility to shift, but when bad information is typed into ...

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Politics and Pandemic Fatigue Doom California’s Covid Vaccine Mandates

In January, progressive California Democrats vowed to adopt the toughest covid vaccine requirements in the country. Their proposals would have required most Californians to get the shots to go to school or work — without allowing exemptions to get out of them.

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7 Job Killer Bills Pass to Second House

Seven California Chamber of Commerce job killer proposals have moved on to the second house, passing a key legislative deadline on May 27 that required nontax-related bills to pass out of the house in which they were introduced.

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The Great Culling: Which California bills did legislators kill?

On suspense file day, legislators killed about 220 California bills on issues including education, health care, housing and workers.

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Newsom Signs Compromise Law Raising The Limit On Medical Malpractice Damages

California's $250,000 limit on damages for pain and suffering caused by medical malpractice, a ceiling enacted by lawmakers in 1975 at the insistence of doctors and insurers, will be lifted next year.

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New Covered California Leader Urges Renewal of Enhanced Federal Aid for Health Premiums

When she was Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner, Jessica Altman, the appointee of a Democratic governor, often bumped against the political limits of health care policy in a state where Republicans controlled the legislature. Despite the constraints of a divided government, Altman played a key role in persuading lawmakers in 2019 to join Gov. Tom Wolf in passing ...

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After the Pandemic Hit Nursing Homes Hard, California Lawmakers Push to Tighten Licensing Rules

When Johanna Trenerry found a nursing home for her husband after his stroke, she expected his stay would be temporary. He never came home. Arthur Trenerry died at Windsor Redding Care Center in Northern California in October 2020. The 82-year-old great-grandfather is among more than 9,900 California nursing home residents who have died of covid-19. The nursing ...

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