Latest California Healthline Stories
Medicaid Waiver Renewal Process Starts
California health officials hope to include new shared-savings ideas in the next version of the state’s Medicaid reform waiver. The current version, known as the “Bridge to Reform,” expires next year.
Brown Signs Exchange Board Diversity Bill
Covered California now can recruit board members based on computer or marketing expertise, rather than just health care policy knowledge, according to a bill signed into law by the governor.
What’s in Proposition 45 — Minus the Hype, Money, Emotion and Controversy
The proposition to regulate health insurance rates in California’s individual and small-group markets raises some interesting and complicated questions — even without the fevered rhetoric swirling around Prop. 45 on the November ballot.
Many Steps To Go Before Authorizing Autism Therapy as Benefit, State Says
State officials said they were waiting for federal guidance before approving autism therapy as a covered Medi-Cal benefit. Now that CMS has issued that guidance, the state says it still needs more time to decide whether that’s possible.
Reaching Remaining Uninsured Will Be Difficult and Expensive, Experts Predict
A significant drop in the number of Californians without health insurance shows the success of Covered California and Medi-Cal expansion, but reaching the remaining uninsured will take careful analysis, enhanced outreach and funding, according to state health officials.
Costs of Diabetes Epidemic High in Los Angeles Homes, Hospitals
With rising diabetes rates in Los Angeles County resulting in increased hospitalization costs and decreased health of residents, health care providers and advocates are focusing on prevention and screening at home and in the community.
Judge Delays Alameda County Ruling
A Superior Court judge in Alameda County has put off making a decision about who should be running the finances following a state takeover of an East Bay local-initiative health plan.
From Promise to Reality: Substance Use Disorders and the ACA
Before the Affordable Care Act fully took effect, HHS boasted that the law would foster “one of the largest expansions of … substance use disorder coverage in a generation.” Will that coverage expansion translate into access to care or will barriers prevail?
State Hopes To Cut Medi-Cal Enrollment Backlog Nearly in Half by August
California health officials, responding to a request from federal officials, explained their plans to deal with a massive Medi-Cal application backlog. A letter to CMS included a rough timeline to fix the problem.
Medi-Cal Renewals: Another Backlog On Horizon?
Let’s start with some good news (because everything is relative): The backlog of Medi-Cal applications that I called “monumental” last month is now merely “massive.” About 600,000 people – some of whom applied last year – are still waiting for their Medi-Cal applications to be processed, down from 900,000 previously, state officials report. The bad news […]