Gov. Jerry Brown never had to decide whether to support single-payer health care because a bill never reached his desk. But just because the Legislature isn’t considering it this year doesn’t mean the idea has died — and even without it, California’s next governor will have plenty of health policy problems to worry about.

The sprawling Alera Group, which has been rapidly expanding its employee benefits business through a series of acquisitions, has added four more brokerages. The deals, which were closed May 1st, expanding the company’s presence in California, the Midwest and the eastern U.S., giving it offices in more than 65 U.S. locations.

Today, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones announced the conclusion of an enforcement action against Parker Conrad for his alleged role in licensing compliance violations that occurred at Zenefits during his tenure as CEO. Following the filing of an Accusation, Conrad entered into a settlement with the department resulting in the surrender of his insurance license.

The Trump administration hit back on Monday against critics of President Trump’s plan to reduce prescription drug prices, saying his ideas would be far more effective than remedies championed by Democrats.

The Trump administration's spring 2018 unified agenda, released on Wednesday, offered a preview into various agencies' regulatory and deregulatory plans for the near future. Policy changes outlined by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) include reduced paperwork burdens for hospitals, greater flexibility for non-ACA-compliant plans, and additional tactics to fight the opioid epidemic, all of which have been previously addressed by the Trump administration. 

The California Rx Card and Nevada Drug Card prescription drug assistance programs have saved residents of the two states more than $635 million since the discount cards were launched in 2007 and 2008, through December 31, 2017.