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Latest California Healthline Stories

New Medicare Advantage Tool To Lower Drug Prices Puts Crimp In Patients’ Choices

Federal officials are allowing the private insurance plans to use “step therapy” for drugs administered by doctors. In step therapy, patients must first use cheaper drugs to see if they work before receiving more expensive options.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ A Detour On A Smoking Off-Ramp

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Sarah Jane Tribble of Kaiser Health News, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call talk about the Food and Drug Administration’s latest actions to address teenagers’ use of e-cigarettes, Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirements and news about the uninsured from the latest federal Census report.

California’s Uninsured Rate Declined Last Year Despite Federal Efforts To Roll Back ACA

The percentage of people without insurance in California continued its decline in 2017, despite Republican efforts in Washington, D.C. to roll back the Affordable Care Act. The uninsured rate now stands 10 percentage points below its level in 2013 — the year before the coverage expanding provisions of the federal health law took effect, according to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau.