Nevada residents who didn't buy health insurance in 2014 and face a tax penalty as a result can avoid a similar situation next year, thanks to a special enrollment period for the state health exchange.

Private health insurance exchange eHealth is cutting 160 jobs, about 15% of its workforce, a consequence of the difficulty it has had in signing up younger individuals and families through its platform.

Kaiser Permanente was ranked highest for customer satisfaction in California for the eighth consecutive year — ahead of all other health plans statewide that were included in the study — according to the J.D. Power 2015 U.S. Member Health Plan Study released this week.

State officials have said they're handling about one million renewals a month for Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program. It's a process that started in June 2014.

The hospital industry in the San Francisco Bay Area is undergoing a "shakeup" as small and independent facilities undergo sales, potential closures and other changes -- a trend that experts say could spread throughout the state as the federal government works to reduce health care costs, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

A reliable maxim of Capitol politics is that big money begets heavy-duty politicking – and in 21st century California, nothing is bigger than health care.