When Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee last month signed a law creating a new health plan alternative for Washington state residents, many accounts proclaimed Washington to be the first state with a “public option.”
But the term is difficult to define — even the word “public” is slippery in the context of healthcare.
A California lawmaker this week made substantial changes to his contentious vaccine bill after Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials raised concerns that the measure was too strict and gave too much power to bureaucrats to decide which children could skip their routine shots.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature have hammered out a 2018-19 budget deal that includes a significant expansion of the Medi-Cal program and tax breaks and penalties intended to increase the number of commercially insured in California.
Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente is funding three clinical research studies that will assist healthcare professionals in helping to prevent firearm injuries.
The studies will help to understand the risk factors of firearm-related injuries and predict the occurrence of such injuries; evaluate a internet-based education tool for safe firearm storage; and explore the integration of suicide prevention tools in healthcare settings. The research will be conducted by Kaiser’s research arms in Southern California, Colorado and Washington State.
Private 54%
Medicaid 26%
Medicare 11%
Uninsured 7%
Other 1%
Source: AHIP, Health Coverage: State-to-State 2019
The California median combined household spending on premium contributions and out-of-pocket costs for nonelderly households with employer coverage during 2016–2017 was $2,550, compared to U.S. median of $3,700, making California the fourth lowest state for these combined costs. The out of pocket cost portion in California during that time was $500, with California the second lowest state for that cost.
Xavier Becerra, the political savvy Democratic attorney general of California, has sued the Trump administration 45 times in the past two years, often with much fanfare.
In winning a legal challenge Sunday against new government rules limiting birth control, he once again cemented himself as a national figure leading a fight against the administration across a range of issues — especially healthcare.
Gov. Gavin Newsom late last week unveiled his first state budget, one that leads California down a very different healthcare path than the one Washington has forged.
The progressive blueprint embraces a state health insurance mandate, beefed-up insurance subsidies, coverage for undocumented immigrants and six months of paid parental leave — not unexpected from a Democrat who campaigned on expanding healthcare and criticized President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans for eroding the Affordable Care Act.
The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services reported on Thursday that it is likely that thousands of more children of immigrants were separated at the border from their parents than was previously reported. HHS’ oversees the Office of Refugee Resettlement and Care, which handled the immigrants after they entered the United States.
The Covered California health insurance exchange said this week it would extend its open enrollment period three days to Jan. 18 to anyone who began an application on or prior to Jan. 15.
“We know that thousands of people wait until the final day, and if that is you, Covered California will help you get across the finish line,” said Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee. Coverage for later applicants begins on Feb. 1.
The Department of Managed Health Care has fined Anthem Blue Cross of California $100,000 for charging enrollees inappropriate cost shares for birth control pills.
Such cost-sharing was mostly eliminated as a result of the Affordable Care Act, which was signed into law in 2010. A separate state law barring co-pays has been on the books since 2015.
The number of people hospitalized because of amphetamine use is skyrocketing in the United States, but the resurgence of the drug largely has been overshadowed by the nation’s intense focus on opioids.
Amphetamine-related hospitalizations jumped by about 245% from 2008 to 2015, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That dwarfs the rise in hospitalizations from other drugs, such as opioids, which were up by about 46%. The most significant increases were in Western states.
At 11 a.m. on Nov. 16, thousands of former Paradise, Calif., residents were taking stock of all they had lost to the worst wildfire in the state’s history while they continued the grim task of looking for missing loved ones.
At the same moment, with smoke from the deadly Camp Fire blanketing much of the state, millions more Californians were struggling to breathe.
Nov. 16 was one of the most dangerously smoky days in Northern and Central California, as wildfire smoke shrouded communities like an acrid fog.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has signed off on the pending merger between San Francisco-based Dignity Health and Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives, a deal that would create the largest non-profit healthcare system in the United States.
It is becoming less likely that Adventist Feather River Hospital in Paradise will reopen after being damaged in the Camp fire.
California Medicare Spending
Average Medicare spending per California beneficiary is $11,833 compared to $10,986 nationally. The average percentage growth (1991-2014) in spending per enrollee was 4.9% for Californians, compared to 5.2% nationally.
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation (2014 data)
California Medicare Advantage Enrollees: 2,475,854
California PDP Enrollees: 2,271,973
California Medicare Beneficiaries: 6,2888,488
Medicare Advantage Penetration: 39.4%
PDP Penetration: 36.1%
In the state that’s leading the opposition to many of President Donald Trump’s health policies, California voters will face a stark choice on the November ballot: keep up the resistance or fall in line.
The results of Tuesday’s primary have set up general-election contests between candidates — for governor, attorney general, insurance commissioner and some congressional seats — with sharply differing views on government’s role in health care.
“Oh my God, we dropped her!” Sandra Snipes said she heard the nursing home aides yell as she fell to the floor. She landed on her right side where her hip had recently been replaced.
She cried out in pain. A hospital clinician later discovered her hip was dislocated.
A new study by Kaiser Permanente researchers has concluded that a physician who strives to keep opioid use in check will not be dinged on their patient satisfaction scores as a result.
Kaiser surveyed nearly 2,500 patients who received high dosages of opioids for six consecutive months who had their regimen reduced to a lower dosage.
