California y COVID-19: hospitales se alistan para la crisis con acciones probadas y desesperadas
By Angela Hart and Anna Maria Barry-Jester
Los hospitales de California pensaron que estaban listos para el próximo gran desastre. Han modernizado sus edificios para resistir un gran terremoto y poner a los pacientes fuera de peligro durante los mortales incendios forestales. Han mantenido vivos a los pacientes con generadores de respaldo en medio de apagones y han entrenado a su personal […]
Testing In California Still A Frustrating Patchwork Of Haves And Have-Nots
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Angela Hart and Rachel Bluth
It’s hard to overstate how uneven access to critical coronavirus test kits remains in the nation’s largest state. Even as some Southern California counties are opening drive-thru sites to make testing available to any resident who wants it, a rural northern county is testing raw sewage to determine whether the coronavirus has infiltrated its communities.
California Healthline Staff
Judy Lin, California editor, helps direct KHN’s coverage of California and assists with ethnic media partnerships. Judy was assistant editor at CalMatters, where she directed the award-winning California Divide project, a collaboration among multiple newsrooms focused on poverty and income inequality. She reported on Sacramento policy and politics for more than a decade for The […]
Changes on Horizon for California Safety Net’s Care of Undocumented, Indigent
By Angela Hart
Community clinics and public hospitals in California remain the primary health care option for millions of undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Safety-net facilities’ strategies for remaining solvent are changing under health care reform.
Should Obamacare Be Delayed — And More to the Point, Can It?
By Dan Diamond
Mounting problems with the federal health insurance exchange have sparked widespread concern, and even supporters of the ACA are turning critical. Experts weigh in on whether the individual mandate and other elements of Obamacare should, or even can, be delayed if the problems persist.
Less Hidden Information by Exchange Under New Bill
By Angela Hart
A Senate committee this week approved legislation to increase transparency at Covered California, the state’s health benefit exchange.
Experts: ACA May Interrupt Short-Term HIV Care, but Long-Term Changes Worth It
by Angela Hart, California Healthline Contributing Reporter
The Affordable Care Act will bring changes for thousands of Californians with HIV/AIDS, including possible interruptions in care. But the long-term benefits of reform will outweigh short-term hiccups, according to experts.
Bill Would Extend Private Plan Requirement To Cover Autism Therapy
By Angela Hart
An Assembly committee this week approved a bill to extend a requirement that private health insurers include a form of autism therapy in their California benefit plans.
DHCS Transparency Bill Moves Forward
By Angela Hart
The Senate Committee on Health this week approved a bill that would set new standards of accountability and transparency at the Department of Health Care Services.
AB 209 by Assembly member Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) received unanimous committee approval Wednesday and now heads for a Senate floor vote, the step before it can be sent to the governor’s desk.
The bill wants to hold the department accountable for problems that arise with patients moving to Medi-Cal managed care plans with stronger, measurable benchmarks, Pan said.
Health Insurers Owed $271 Million
By Angela Hart
State officials this week said the Healthy Families program owes $271 million in services already provided by its network of 20 health care insurers and the program needs legislative help to fix the problem.
Healthy Families’ overall shortfall is projected to be $366 million for the year, a deficit caused by expiration of the managed care organization tax in December. Last week, the Senate budget subcommittee on Health and Human Services delayed a vote on the MCO tax.
“The Legislature failed to extend the MCO tax, therefore MRMIB did not have sufficient cash to pay for the Healthy Families program invoices,” said Tony Lee, deputy director for administration at the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, which oversees the Healthy Families program. Lee spoke Wednesday at the monthly MRMIB board meeting.
