Daily Edition for Friday, June 14, 2024
CalPERS Switches To Blue Shield: The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has named Blue Shield of California as the only health plan in its preferred provider organization. CalPERS’s previous carrier for two decades was Anthem Blue Cross. The retirement system oversees health benefits for more than 1.5 million members. Read more from Fierce Healthcare.
California Lawmakers Preserve Aid to Older, Disabled Immigrants
By Vanessa G. Sánchez
Lawmakers passed a budget that rejected Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to save nearly $95 million by eliminating in-home support services for qualifying older, blind, and disabled immigrants lacking legal residency. Advocates say Newsom’s plan would have cost more in the long run. Newsom has not indicated whether he’ll veto.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': SCOTUS Rejects Abortion Pill Challenge — For Now
The Supreme Court has dismissed a challenge to the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, ruling unanimously that the anti-abortion doctor group that filed the suit lacked standing. But abortion opponents are expected to pursue other strategies to ban or restrict the medication. Meanwhile, the Biden administration moves to stop the inclusion of medical debt on individual credit reports, and former President Donald Trump tries to claim credit for $35 insulin. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Rachana Pradhan of KFF Health News, and Emmarie Huetteman of KFF Health News join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF president and CEO Drew Altman about KFF’s new “Health Policy 101” primer.
Daily Edition for Thursday, June 13, 2024
US Supreme Court Upholds Access To Abortion Pill: Two years after repealing the constitutional right to abortion that it had declared in 1973, the Supreme Court unanimously voted to preserve women’s access to mifepristone, the pill used in nearly two-thirds of all U.S. abortions, according to a ruling released Thursday. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times.
Funding Instability Plagues Program That Brings Docs to Underserved Areas
By Michelle Andrews
A medical residency program designed to train future primary care physicians in outpatient rather than hospital settings has proved an effective means to bring doctors to rural and underserved areas. But it hinges on unpredictable congressional funding.
Biden’s on Target About What Repealing ACA Would Mean for Preexisting Condition Protections
By Jacob Gardenswartz
A Biden campaign ad highlighting how an Obamacare repeal would affect people with preexisting conditions is mostly true.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Doctors, Dentists May Get Raises, Possibly Averting Strike: Unionized doctors and dentists who work at hospitals and other health facilities run by Los Angeles County will get cost-of-living increases and bonuses under tentative agreements with the county, reached after more than two years of bargaining and threats of a strike. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
California Dabbles With Reining in Health Spending
By Bernard J. Wolfson
California is now among the states trying to keep health-care costs down by setting spending caps — a task that pits public officials against a deeply entrenched and heavily lawyered set of players. It’s uncertain whether the state can get insurers, hospitals and medical groups to collaborate on containing costs even as they jockey for […]
Many Young Adults Who Began Vaping as Teens Can’t Shake the Habit
By John Daley, Colorado Public Radio
New data on substance use among young adults suggests that many former teen e-cigarette users are continuing the habit.
Watch: California Pays Drug Users To Stay Clean
KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart discusses a state Medicaid experiment for people addicted to methamphetamine, cocaine, and other stimulants. For every clean urine test, they can earn money — up to $599 a year.
