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.
The policy shift is in the agency's new contract with insurers, approved by the Covered California board last week. It will affect preferred provider network plans - PPOs - in particular. A consumer favorite, PPO plans allow members to go to any doctor – specialist or otherwise – without a referral from a primary care physician.
California would be the first state in the nation to ask the federal government to allow immigrants in the country illegally to purchase health insurance through a state exchange under new proposed legislation.
Pharmacy students at Roseman University are volunteering to help Nevada’s Medicare population learn more about their insurance coverage, and a new grant is expected to boost their efforts.
In a small room at a neighborhood clinic in Sacramento, a handful of hepatitis C patients wait to see their physician, hoping they’ll be found sick enough to be approved for a cure.
In a move called both symbolic and practical, the Covered California board took the first step Thursday toward allowing undocumented residents to purchase health plans – with no state or federal subsidies – through California’s Obamacare marketplace.
Moving into a realm usually reserved for health care regulators, Covered California Thursday unveiled sweeping reforms to its contracts with insurers, seeking to improve the quality of care, curb its cost and increase transparency for consumers.
In a few months, California will begin providing full Medi-Cal coverage to all low-income children — regardless of their immigration status.
It wasn’t until a doctor ordered medical tests for Adriana Vitale that she discovered her Covered California coverage had disappeared. “I was shocked. I was crying. I was depressed,” said Vitale, 61, of Downey.
An executive director of a health insurance exchange in Nevada said that the state-based marketplace has helped the region save as much as a million dollars in 2015.
In its latest effort to get more states to states to expand their Medicaid programs, health officials are emphasizing its role in paying for treatment of opioid abuse and mental health issues.