Latest California Healthline Stories
Health Reform Grapples With Influence of Age on Premiums
Members of Congress are studying ways to encourage young people to obtain health insurance coverage, complicating the debate over how much more to charge older people for coverage. Insurers support a provision of the Senate Finance Committee’s bill that would permit premiums for older people to be four times higher than those of younger people. KQED’s “California Report.”
Schwarzenegger Urges Congress To Pay for Medicaid Expansions
Yesterday, Gov. Schwarzenegger sent Congress a letter expressing his support for a so-called “individual mandate” that would require all residents to have health coverage. Schwarzenegger also said California would need to shell out an additional $1 billion per year unless Congress fully funds the Medicaid expansions included in health care reform legislation. Sacramento Bee, Wall Street Journal.
County Officials Protest Background Checks for In-Home Care Workers
County officials say they are unprepared to comply with Gov. Schwarzenegger’s plan to require background checks and fingerprinting for the state’s In-Home Supportive Services workers. The new application process is scheduled to take effect Monday. Los Angeles Times.
New Database Will Help Insurers Determine Pay for Out-of-Network Care
Yesterday, New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced a new database designed to help health insurers determine reimbursement rates for out-of-network care. An investigation last year found that the previous database resulted in artificially low payments. New York Times, Reuters.
UCSF Program Shown To Cut Medication Errors at Hospitals
A UC-San Francisco program is credited with reducing medication errors by 88% over 36 months at nine Bay Area hospitals that adopted the program’s recommendations on reducing distractions and interruptions for nurses. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation funded the effort. San Francisco Chronicle.
Cost of Long-Term Care Up, Market Survey Finds
The cost of long-term care increased on average over the past year despite the current economic recession, according to a recent market survey by the MetLife Mature Market Institute. The average annual cost of private nursing homes in the U.S. rose 3.3% to $79,935, or $86,140 annually throughout much of California. The cost of assisted-living homes also increased 3.3% to an average of $37,572 annually, or $40,944 annually in Sacramento. In addition, the cost of home health aides and adult day care services in California rose 5% and 4.7%, respectively. Sacramento Business Journal.
Columnist: Anthem’s Role in MRMIP a Conflict of Interest
Anthem Blue Cross of California offers coverage through the state’s Major Risk Medical Insurance Program and also holds the contract for administering the program, giving the insurer a “dual role” in MRMIP, columnist David Lazarus writes. According to Lazarus, the setup lets Anthem Blue Cross profit by administering benefits for consumers it declined to cover in the individual market. Los Angeles Times.
Kaiser Permanente To Award $19M in Grants for Community Care
Yesterday, Kaiser Permanente announced that it will dole out $19 million in grants for initiatives that aim to boost health care access, education and quality. The grants include $5.7 million for safety-net health care programs in California. San Francisco Business Times.
Stimulus Grant Will Revive Elder Minority Research
A $179,000 federal stimulus grant from NIH will help revive health research focused on elderly minority populations at six U.S. universities. UCLA is one of the universities involved in the program, called the Resource Centers for Minority Elders Research. RCMER currently is reviewing project proposals and will select one or two, such as improving nutrition or exercise. New America Media.
California Congressional Delegation Split on Party Lines Over Public Option
The partisan divide over including a government-run health plan in health care reform legislation carries over to California’s congressional delegation, where all Republicans have come out against such a plan and all but two Democrats have pledged to support it. California News Service/Bakersfield Californian.