Latest California Healthline Stories
Health Care Special Session Slated for January
California’s legislative special session on health care won’t take place until January, according to officials at the California Health and Human Services agency.
Gov. Jerry Brown (D) told legislators in August he will convene a special session in the Legislature “to continue [the] important work of implementing the Affordable Care Act,” Brown wrote in a letter to California legislators. The session was expected to be convened in December.
The special session will be held concurrently with the regular legislative session that begins Jan. 7.
Saving Money, Lives with Mental Health Program
A new study by the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities suggests an intensive and integrated mental health program called Full Service Partnerships is likely to save the state money at a return rate of $1.27 for every dollar spent.
The FSP program is designed to care for individuals with serious mental illness by taking a holistic approach to their care, according to Renay Bradley, chief of research and evaluation at the UCLA center.
“The idea is, if you have individuals who are particularly challenged, such as homeless individuals or just people who need a lot of assistance, they’re funneled into FSPs,” Bradley said. “And they do whatever it takes to get them to a decent level of functioning.”
Covered California’s Plans to Become Self-Sufficient
California’s health benefit exchange, now also known as Covered California, eventually is supposed to run by itself without state or federal money. The exchange board took a couple of steps toward that end at Wednesday’s board meeting.
It released its draft Level II establishment grant proposal, which now will be forwarded to federal officials. The proposal is a blueprint for how the exchange will operate in California.
As part of the proposal, exchange officials laid out plans for the exchange to be self-sufficient by 2017.
Long Busy Day for the Exchange Board
The Health Benefit Exchange board issued a draft establishment grant proposal Wednesday, which is basically a blueprint of the exchange’s business and operational plan through 2017, the year it is supposed to become self-sufficient.
The board also took on a number of other issues on Wednesday, including imminent submission of its quality health plans proposal to the Office of Administrative Law. The eight-hour meeting had a get-down-to-business tone, partly in response to the reelection of President Obama, which ensures a smoother track for implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
“We’ve been moving full steam ahead for over a year now,” said Peter Lee, executive director of the HBEx board. “So this is a good meeting to have right after the election.”
‘California’s Budget Situation Has Improved Sharply’
Yesterday’s long-term budget forecast for sunnier skies in California by the Legislative Analyst’s Office could also mean good things for the state’s health care programs, according to the LAO and health experts.
“For the first time in a decade, we’ve stabilized our budget problem,” said Mac Taylor, head legislative analyst at the LAO. “We are looking at a much more positive outlook in the future. This is nothing like we’ve had to look at in the past.”
The state still faces a $1.9 billion deficit for the fiscal year 2013-14 — that’s about half current shortfall and half operating deficit for next year, according to Taylor — but that is just the current projection and could shift, based on a number of factors, Taylor said.
Health Task Force Releases Draft Report
The first task has been checked off the list. Yesterday the Let’s Get Healthy California task force met to go over the release of its draft report, the culmination of six months’ work. The final report is slated for completion by Dec. 19.
“When you look at where we are today in California, there are so many challenges we’re facing [in health care],” said Pat Powers, director of the task force. “The population is aging, there are unprecedented levels of chronic disease across the state, and alarming high rates of obesity and diabetes. For the first time in a long time, the children born in this generation may not live as long as their parents.”
That creates a moral imperative to do something to meet all of those needs, Powers said. At the same time, the task force hopes to propose changes that not only improve care but save the state money, as well, she said.
Rural Health Care at a Crossroads
How to handle and benefit from changes affecting health care will be the central topic of conversation at the annual conference of the California State Rural Health Association, according to Steve Barrow, its executive director.
The rural health conference takes place today and tomorrow in Anaheim.
Rural communities, with higher percentages of Medi-Cal beneficiaries and seniors, feel the effects of change more than other parts of California — and those percentages are increasing, according to Barrow. Add in the difficulties of distance between patients and providers and the dearth of providers in the rural setting, and you have a population that likely will be affected more by the changes at the federal, state and local levels, Barrow said.
Budget, Special Session, Exchange Votes on Tap
November and December are supposed to be off-time for California lawmakers, but not this year.
This week, the Legislative Analyst’s Office is expected to release its budget forecast. Also this week, the Health Benefit Exchange board will vote on submission of its federal establishment grant. A number of health reform guidelines are expected to be released soon by federal health officials who are also dealing with a deadline this week for states to declare whether or not they will form their own exchanges.
California’s exchange board will meet Wednesday to vote on submission of its establishment grant. That will effectively lay out the exchange’s marketing, outreach and IT plans for its health insurance offerings, now know as covered California. The exchange board also will take action on regulations for qualified health plans.
Budget Expert Unfazed by Supermajority
Fears that the Legislature might spend money faster than a speeding bullet are unfounded, despite the possibility that the Democrats in Sacramento could have a two-thirds supermajority in both houses, according to Chris Hoene, executive director of the California Budget Project.
However, if election results in several key races too close to call go in Democrats’ favor, the new supermajority could have an impact on health care policy, particularly cuts to health care, Hoene said.
“I think from a budgetary perspective, the big implication is that the approach to balancing the budget wouldn’t be a cuts-only approach,” Hoene said. “We might not be talking about just cuts as a way to move forward.”
Prop. 30 Could Stem Health Care Cuts
Lawmakers and health care experts around the state may not know what to make of it if this turns out to be the first January in a long time without significant new cuts to health care services and programs in California.
Although revenues from Prop. 30 will help fund education, if it hadn’t passed on Tuesday, the Legislature would be facing yet another massive budget shortfall and lawmakers would need to look at cutting many more millions of dollars. Health care programs and services would’ve been on the chopping block once again, according to Steve Green, president of the California Academy of Family Physicians.
“People didn’t want to think about all of the slashing and burning that would take place if Prop. 30 didn’t pass,” Green said. “It’s a tremendous relief, knowing that millions of dollars aren’t going to be cut out for the poor again. So not having to cut so much, that will help us focus more on the things that need to happen. When you’re in a crisis mode all the time, that makes it much harder to plan for the future.”