Percent of California non-elderly population: 25% (27% total in U.S.)
Number of California non-elderly adults: 6,093,000 (53,884,000 total in U.S.)
Source: Kaiser Family Foundation, Pre-Existing Condition Prevalence for Individuals and Families, 2018 data
Going to see a healthcare provider is often a frustrating and demeaning experience for people of color, as well as those who are LGBTQ or have disabilities, according to a preliminary report by the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network.
Fern Brown, 81, sat in the rear of a tent on the windswept fairgrounds of the historic Gold Rush town of Auburn, drawing deep breaths through the mouthpiece of a nebulizer plugged into a power strip atop a plastic folding table.
Afflicted for years with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Brown uses the nebulizer twice a day to avoid flare-ups that can be life-threatening. It turns her medicine into a fine mist that she can inhale.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra scotched a pending merger between Adventist Health West and the St. Joseph Health System late last week.
Covered California, the state’s health insurance exchange, kicked off an extensive marketing campaign earlier this week to encourage individual health plan enrollments for 2020.
The exchange’s television campaign, known as “You Shouldn’t Have To,” has a more serious tone than previous iterations. It focuses on family members who are in obvious pain but soldiering on because of a lack of insurance. “We believe you shouldn’t have to choose between the life you built and the care you need,” is the commercial’s tagline.
The California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, a public-private partnership aimed at improving the state's maternal health care and outcomes, has taken a three-pronged approach to curb how frequently cesareans occur among "low-risk" births.
In 2012, before efforts to reduce unnecessary cesareans ramped up in the state, data culled from the collaborative shows low-risk C-section rates ranged from 13% to 83.3% in California hospitals, with a statewide average of 27.8%.
California hospitals with a 2.0% reduction or more in 2020 Medicare payments because of excess rehospitalizations
Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente has launched an ambitious program intended to improve the health of its lower-income enrollees through increases and improvements in their food supply.
The initiative, known as “Food For Life,” is intended to not only to eradicate hunger among lower-income residents of the United States, but also connect them with better dietary options.
Some of California’s most vulnerable nursing home residents, many of whom have nowhere else to go, are receiving letters from their healthcare plans saying they are no longer eligible for long-term care.
In one notable example, three dozen nursing home residents in San Luis Obispo County were informed on the same day that their Medi-Cal managed-care plan was cutting off payment for nursing home care, said Karen Jones, the county’s long-term care ombudsman.
The Department of Managed Health Care has fined Aetna $50,000 for inappropriately denying coverage of services to two transgendered enrollees, records show.
Covered California has announced that 2020 premiums for its small business insurance exchange will rise a weighted average of 4.1%. It’s the lowest increase in six years and far below the five-year average annual hike of 5.6%.
4.5 Ratings
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. - Southern California: HMO
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. - Northern California: HMO
Sharp Health Plan: HMO
Californians who lost the option to automatically re-enroll in an Affordable Care Act exchange plan were less likely to hold on to their insurance coverage than households that could enroll automatically, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Blue Lake: $26,437*
St. Helena: $26,304
Turlock: $23,933
Whittier: $23,918
Ross: $23,341
San Bruno: $23,268
Patterson: $23,236
Scotts Valley: $23,163
Waterford: $22,816
Mountain View: $22,419
* Per employee
Source: Transparent California
Water Replenishment District of Southern California: $32,289*
Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (Contra Costa): $29,923
Truckee-Donner Public Utility District: $28,219
Stockton-East Water District: $26,203
Sweetwater Authority: $25,946
Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District: $25,694
Lassen Municipal Utility District: $25,569
Western Municipal Water District: $24,948
Florin Resource Conservation District: $24,689
El Dorado Hills County Water District: $24,646
Starting Jan. 1, California will become the first state to offer subsidies to middle-income people who make too much money to qualify for the federal tax credits that help consumers buy health coverage through Covered California, the state’s insurance exchange.
Many people in the middle class have struggled to afford health insurance, often shouldering the entire cost of premiums that can surpass $1,000 a month.
Premiums on health insurance plans sold on the federal marketplace in 2020 will drop an average of 4% on benchmark plans, while the numbers of carriers selling plans will increase by a third.
The news comes despite the Trump administration’s persistent attempts to undermine the Affordable Care Act, which created the market with the goal of providing comprehensive health coverage at affordable prices and reducing the number of Americans without health insurance.
For years, Dorothy Lowery of San Pedro has struggled to get by on the less than $700 a month she receives in Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
The 72-year-old, who said she has prediabetes, knows she needs to eat nutritious food and keep the weight off. But after paying her utilities, car insurance and other bills each month, Lowery barely has enough money left over to buy cheap food at the dollar store, let alone the fruits, vegetables and protein needed for a balanced diet.
As the Trump administration’s efforts at sabotaging the Affordable Care Act caused the nation’s uninsured rates to increase, policies undertaken by California’s lawmakers caused the Golden State’s uninsured rate to drop slightly in 2018.
According to a new study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, the uninsured rate statewide in 2018 was 8.1%, down from 8.5% in 2017. The state’s uninsured rate was 15.5% in 2013, the year before the eligibility for Medi-Cal was expanded and the state’s health insurance exchange opened for business.
Latino: 13.7%
African American: 6.4%
Asian American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: 6.1%
Other or Multiple Race: 6.1%
White: 5.3%
Total: 9.0%
Source: UCLA: Still Left Behind: Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care Among Latinos in California
