Latest California Healthline Stories
California Put Center-Stage in National Debate
How much appetite do Californians have for ongoing talk about national health care reform? We are about to find out.
Two California members of Congress have recently proposed limiting or completely reversing the national health care reform law — which provoked an equal and opposite reaction among many state lawmakers. And it has become an issue in the race for a U.S. Senate seat in California, as well.
“I believe we should repeal the new health care law and replace it with real patient-centered reforms that reduce costs and improve access to quality care,” said Rep. Wally Herger (R-Chico).
Fiscal Issues Could Put Medicaid Expansion in Jeopardy
The health care overhaul relies on a significant expansion of Medicaid to reduce the uninsured population. Budgetary pressures that have forced many states to implement cuts to Medicaid ahead of the expansion and uncertainty about federal funding have raised questions about the plan’s viability.
Health Insurance Limited for Same-Sex Couples
Gay couples in California may have many of the rights of heterosexual married partners — but not when it comes to dependent health insurance coverage, according to a UCLA study released in the July issue of Health Affairs.
California is a state where registered domestic partnership laws extend marriage-like rights and responsibilities, where laws regulating health insurance and health plans require equal treatment of spouses and domestic partners.
But, according to the study, lesbian and gay couples have a difficult time collecting dependent coverage benefits outside of the public sector.
Hope Hits Streets to Get New Ideas
A new organization of health care leaders wants to talk through the problems of health care, but that doesn’t mean that’s all Hope Street Group wants to do.
“We are very much geared toward action,” Monique Nadeau said.
Nadeau, executive director of the new health-policy brainstorming organization, said Hope Street Group has tackled education issues in the past. The group now turns its attention to health care.
Medical Home Model Gains Traction on North Coast
The idea of a “medical home” to make primary care work better for patients, physicians and insurers is gaining a foothold on the North Coast, but many say California as a whole is behind the curve nationally.
High-Risk Pool Gets Fast Track Treatment
California has been running its own high-risk insurance pool for the past 18 years. So the people running the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board (MRMIB) are extremely familiar with the pressing need for the program throughout the state.
When the federal government offered up funds to significantly expand the number of people who could have access to a high-risk insurance pool, California officials jumped at it.
“There are a lot of people in California who really need this,” MRMIB’s Deputy Director of Legislative and External Affairs Jeanie Esajian said. “And it is something MRMIB has strived to do for a long time — 18 years. This gives us the opportunity to provide services for so many more people.”
Making the Most of State Mental Health Efforts
It would be tough to call it integrated medicine. According to public health experts, the state of mental health care in California is more like a crazy quilt of mixed treatments, limited funding and uncertain outcomes.
That’s precisely what the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission hopes to change. The board was created by the Mental Health Services Act, passed by California voters in 2004. It convened Wednesday in Sacramento to iron out the details of how it hopes to evaluate the sprawling mental health system in California.
“This is a critical meeting for this commission,” said Larry Poaster, vice chair of commission.
California Dental Care Crisis Could Get Worse With Budget
California has the second-lowest ranking for children’s oral health care in the nation, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health. Pre-schoolers have rotten teeth, oral infections and metal caps — and if proposed budget cuts go through, it could get worse.
Single Payer Bill Back in the Mix
The normally sedate audience at an Assembly health committee hearing broke into spontaneous applause last week as Senate member Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) stepped to the microphone. Leno was introducing SB 810, which would establish a single-payer health care system in California.
The burst of applause came from a busload of supporters in the hearing room. It has been a long, hard fight for single-payer advocates. Twice the idea has been approved by the state legislature, and twice it has been vetoed by the governor.
The single-payer system would bypass health insurance companies in California, handing the authority and responsibility of health care administration to the state. With passage of a national health care reform law, some expected the single-payer idea to wither on the vine. But at last week’s Assembly Health Committee hearing, it was alive and well.
New Data From Mass. Revive Old Concerns
Massachusetts has served as the proverbial canary in the health reform coal mine, and new findings about rising health costs and access concerns in the Bay State underscore the risks of the nation’s health care overhaul.