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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.

Feds Say California May Have Spent Nearly $1B On Ineligible Medi-Cal Benefiaries

Federal auditors estimate that California may have paid nearly $1 billion in 2014 and 2015 to provide Medicaid benefits for people who were ineligible for the government health program, according to a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General.

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Cigna-Express Scripts Nears Finish Line with Approvals from California and New York

Cigna's $67 billion acquisition of Express Scripts cleared regulatory hurdles in two states on Thursday, putting the deal on pace to close by the end of the year.

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State Explores How to Counteract End of Obamacare Mandate

In a scramble to keep people enrolled in health care plans, what did New Jersey, Vermont and the District of Columbia do earlier this year that California has not done?

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Democrats’ Spending List Needs to be ‘Whittled Down,’ Gavin Newsom Says

California lawmakers had been in session for just 24 hours by midday Tuesday, and majority Democrats had already proposed tens of billions of dollars in new state spending.

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Blue Shield’s Trims To Out-Of-State Coverage Give Some Californians The Blues

Denise Roberts is still coping with complications from a life-threatening bout of Valley Fever three years ago that claimed part of a lung. Roberts, who lives in Doyle, Calif., a tiny rural community near the Nevada border, typically drives to Reno for the care she needs. Specialists in her own state, she said, are too far away.

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‘Public Charge’ Would Hit California’s Economy, Study Says

Rules that could give immigrants reason to avoid enrolling in health safety net programs would deliver a blow to California’s economy, costing the state thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic output, a new study concluded.

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Without an Obamacare Penalty, Many are Planning to Drop Health Plans. The Consequences Could be Dire

Dana Farrell’s car insurance is due. So is her homeowner’s insurance — plus her property taxes. It’s also time to re-up her health coverage. But that’s where Farrell, a 54-year-old former social worker, is drawing the line.

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Editorial: How Newsom, California Should Approach Single-Payer

A single-payer health care system may yet prove to be the best alternative for California and the nation. But Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom should make clear that the Legislature shouldn’t waste time on any legislation in 2019 unless it includes a prudent financial plan that makes sense for California consumers, health care providers and business interests.

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More Undocumented Immigrants in California Would Get Health Care Under Democrats’ Plan

Influential Democratic state lawmakers are re-introducing bills Monday to give immigrants without legal status access to Medi-Cal, California’s health care program for low-income people.

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Decline in California’s Uninsured Rate Among Kids has Stagnated, Raising Concerns

Los Angeles pediatrician Ilan Shapiro has seen a dramatic turnaround in how young patients get their health care since 2014, when the Affordable Care Act went into full effect.

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