Latest California Healthline Stories
AP/Los Angeles Times Reports on ERs’ Treatment of ‘Frequent Fliers’
The AP/Los Angeles Times on Sunday looked at emergency rooms’ care for “frequent flier[s],” uninsured people who use ERs as often as every day, seeking “food, human interaction or perhaps just a warm place to sit for a while.”
Health Net, PacifiCare Announce Medicare HMO Withdrawals
PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. announced Friday that it will drop its Medicare+Choice plan in eight California counties and reduce its coverage in seven others next year, while Health Net Inc. said it will drop its Medicare HMO service in five counties, the Los Angeles Times reports.
FEHBP Premiums to Rise 13.3% Next Year
The Bush administration said last Friday that health insurance premiums for federal employees and retirees will rise an average of 13.3% next year, making rates about 50% higher than what government workers paid in 1998, the Washington Post reports.
House Members Call for Overhaul of Medicare Drug Pricing
During a Sept. 21 hearing of the House Energy and Commerce oversight and health subcommittees that focused on Medicare overpayment for prescription drugs, subcommittee members called for an overhaul of the drug-pricing system, the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Santa Rosa-Area Health Care Leaders Predict No Medi-Cal Reimbursement Rate Increase in 2002
Sonoma County health care leaders said Friday during a conference on health care issues that federal and state governments will not likely boost Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for the county next year, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports.
States Slow to Require Insurance Coverage for Infertility
Sixteen years after the passage of the first state legislation to mandate that health insurance companies cover infertility treatments, “far fewer” states have passed laws mandating infertility treatment coverage than advocates had expected, the Los Angeles Times reports.
58 MCOs to Pull Out of Medicare+Choice Program, Cut Services in 2002
Medicare+Choice plans will drop about 536,000 seniors next year, HHS announced last Friday, the Washington Post reports.
DMHC Issues Report Cards Rating HMO Services
California HMOs are “generally” doing well in fostering doctor-patient communication, but are not faring as well in providing health services such as chronic care treatment, according to new HMO report cards issued today by the state Department of Managed Health Care.
Wall Street Journal Looks at Proliferation of Web Sites Selling Discount Cigarettes
The Wall Street Journal today examines the “proliferation” of Web sites that are selling discounted and “often untaxed” cigarettes.
Congress May Not Pass Patients’ Rights Bill This Year
Although a “political truce” has “reigned” in Congress in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Los Angeles Times reports that bipartisanship “eventually will fizzle,” with Congress set to address “more divisive issues,” such as health care legislation.