Latest California Healthline Stories
Premiums And Costs Could Rise If Republicans Win Obamacare Lawsuit, Study Finds
In House v. Burwell, Republican lawmakers are challenging the health law’s “cost sharing reduction” payments to insurers to help reimburse the coverage of lower-income enrollees. Meanwhile, as the enrollment period draws to a close, The Associated Press reports on potential fines for millennials who remain uninsured
Health Law Requirements Hit Low-Profit-Margin Agriculture Industry Hard
“Either I pay for health insurance, or I pay the rent and utilities,” says Agostin Garcia, a farm worker affected by the legislation. In other Affordable Care Act news, Covered California’s enrollment deadline is Sunday.
Unfunded Health Liability For Retirees Increases To $74B
The unfunded liability represents the cost the state must pay over time to cover health and dental benefits promised to state employees.
Five From California, All Who Traveled Abroad, Infected With Zika
Concerns in the states rise after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its travel advisory over the virus, but other officials say it is unlikely the U.S. will be hit with an outbreak. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama is calling for accelerated research efforts to find a vaccine.
Doctors Should Screen All Adults For Depression, Task Force Urges
New guidance from a federal panel urges that all adults, specifically pregnant women and new mothers, should be screened for depression as a routine part of health care. The recommendation, expected to galvanize many more health providers to provide screening, comes in the wake of new evidence that maternal mental illness is more common than previously thought.
Grand Jury Indicts 2 Activists Behind Planned Parenthood Videos
During its investigation into accusations of misconduct against Planned Parenthood, a Texas grand jury cleared the organization of wrongdoing and instead indicted the two people who secretly recorded videos purporting to show officials trying to profit from the sale of fetal tissue.
Booming Health Care Spending Tops Social Security, CBO Reports
The government spent $936 billion last year on health programs including Medicare, Medicaid and subsidies related to the Affordable Care Act, a jump of 13 percent from 2014, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Spending on Social Security, in contrast, totaled $882 billion, the Congressional Budget Office reported. The Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid and the growing availability of subsidies for exchange plans are driving much of the higher spending.
CBO Reduces Health Law Enrollment Estimates
The Congressional Budget Office on Monday updated its projections about how many people would sign up for health insurance, dropping the number from 21 million to 13 million.
County Officials Attribute High Kern Vaccination Rates To New State Law
For the third year in a row, the percentage of Kern’s kindergartners receiving vaccinations climbed. In other news, The California Department of Transportation will be on the hook for $12 million in damages for concealing the presence of valley fever fungal spores.
Tangled Red Tape Still Limiting Women’s Access To Birth Control
A new law allowing pharmacists to prescribe women birth control is facing a series of delays. “It’s been politics, in some ways, at its worst. Every time there’s a delay, the delay is just exponential,” says Kathleen Besinque, an associate professor of clinical pharmacy at USC. In other public health news, home screening colonoscopy kits generate higher levels of participation.