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Latest California Healthline Stories

As States Target High Drug Prices, Pharma Targets State Lawmakers

In Louisiana, the wining and dining of lawmakers by scores of pharma lobbyists proves a valuable lesson on how to win statehouse votes and influence profits, though their efforts fell short in California, which passed a drug transparency bill in 2017 despite massive opposition from drugmakers.

No Sweeteners Added To Tax Bill To Spread Use Of Health Savings Accounts

These accounts are exempt from taxes and linked to high-deductible health plans. Republicans tried last summer in their unsuccessful efforts to replace the health law to make the accounts more enticing for consumers, but they didn’t make those changes in the current tax bill.

Podcast: ‘What The Health?’ Farewell, Individual Mandate

In this episode of “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times discuss health issues in the emerging tax bill, including the likely repeal of fines for those who fail to obtain health insurance. They also talk about the end of “open enrollment” for 2018 individual health insurance coverage.