Latest California Healthline Stories
Exchange Official: Multistate Plans Not Same as Public Option
Multistate insurance plans to be offered under the Affordable Care Act aren’t substitutes for a public option and probably won’t have much influence on competition in California, according to a Covered California official.
Health Care Special Session Slated for January
California’s legislative special session on health care won’t take place until January, according to officials at the California Health and Human Services agency.
Gov. Jerry Brown (D) told legislators in August he will convene a special session in the Legislature “to continue [the] important work of implementing the Affordable Care Act,” Brown wrote in a letter to California legislators. The session was expected to be convened in December.
The special session will be held concurrently with the regular legislative session that begins Jan. 7.
Susannah Fox of Pew Research Center Talks About New Findings on Mobile Health Usage
Susannah Fox, associate director at the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, spoke with California Healthline about Pew’s latest study on Internet use among U.S. residents and new findings about the use of mobile phones to look up health-related information.
What Health Policy Wonks Are ‘Thankful’ for This Thanksgiving
Supporters of the Affordable Care Act are grateful that the law will survive, while some conservative health policy scholars remain glad that parts of Obamacare can still be delayed.
Saving Money, Lives with Mental Health Program
A new study by the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities suggests an intensive and integrated mental health program called Full Service Partnerships is likely to save the state money at a return rate of $1.27 for every dollar spent.
The FSP program is designed to care for individuals with serious mental illness by taking a holistic approach to their care, according to Renay Bradley, chief of research and evaluation at the UCLA center.
“The idea is, if you have individuals who are particularly challenged, such as homeless individuals or just people who need a lot of assistance, they’re funneled into FSPs,” Bradley said. “And they do whatever it takes to get them to a decent level of functioning.”
Covered California’s Plans to Become Self-Sufficient
California’s health benefit exchange, now also known as Covered California, eventually is supposed to run by itself without state or federal money. The exchange board took a couple of steps toward that end at Wednesday’s board meeting.
It released its draft Level II establishment grant proposal, which now will be forwarded to federal officials. The proposal is a blueprint for how the exchange will operate in California.
As part of the proposal, exchange officials laid out plans for the exchange to be self-sufficient by 2017.
Smartphones Might Aid Health Effort in Rural California
The emerging use of cell phones and smartphones in medicine has been passing by rural communities, but that may be changing as mobile signals reach more remote areas of California. New technologies and new signals to broaden their reach could fill a burgeoning need.
Long Busy Day for the Exchange Board
The Health Benefit Exchange board issued a draft establishment grant proposal Wednesday, which is basically a blueprint of the exchange’s business and operational plan through 2017, the year it is supposed to become self-sufficient.
The board also took on a number of other issues on Wednesday, including imminent submission of its quality health plans proposal to the Office of Administrative Law. The eight-hour meeting had a get-down-to-business tone, partly in response to the reelection of President Obama, which ensures a smoother track for implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
“We’ve been moving full steam ahead for over a year now,” said Peter Lee, executive director of the HBEx board. “So this is a good meeting to have right after the election.”
‘California’s Budget Situation Has Improved Sharply’
Yesterday’s long-term budget forecast for sunnier skies in California by the Legislative Analyst’s Office could also mean good things for the state’s health care programs, according to the LAO and health experts.
“For the first time in a decade, we’ve stabilized our budget problem,” said Mac Taylor, head legislative analyst at the LAO. “We are looking at a much more positive outlook in the future. This is nothing like we’ve had to look at in the past.”
The state still faces a $1.9 billion deficit for the fiscal year 2013-14 — that’s about half current shortfall and half operating deficit for next year, according to Taylor — but that is just the current projection and could shift, based on a number of factors, Taylor said.
Fiscal Cliff, Deals To Avoid It Worry Health Advocates
California health care advocates are worried about cutbacks under national budget sequestration. However, potential outcomes of a deal that would avoid the cuts concern some advocates even more.