Latest California Healthline Stories
What Food Issues Mean to Health Care
A new policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that 3.8 million Californians in 2009 had times during the year when they could not afford food.
Based on data from the California Health Interview Survey, the new study of showed a marked rise from the 2.5 million Californians with food insecurity eight years before, in 2001. That’s an increase of about half (49%), during a time period where California’s population grew by about 10%.
“The numbers are quite striking,” said UCLA researcher Gail Harrison. “We knew what the trend was going to be, but this was a much more striking increase than I thought there would be.”
Kaiser, State Close on Healthy Families Pact
Officials from Kaiser Permanente and the state Department of Health Care Services are finalizing a deal to enable Kaiser’s participation in the state’s planned elimination of the Healthy Families program.
That is welcome news for the 193,000 Kaiser-enrolled children in Healthy Families — almost one-fourth of all children in the program. Up till now, it looked like the state and Kaiser were at an impasse over Kaiser’s participation in the conversion of Healthy Families to Medi-Cal managed care.
“Earlier it appeared we would not be able to include Kaiser,” said Norman Williams, deputy director of public affairs for DHCS. “But we have made some significant progress, and now it looks like they will be included.”
Committee Moves Stop-Loss Bill Forward
Stop-loss health insurance is a way for small-business employers to offer a form of health care insurance to employees while limiting risk. The trouble with that, according to Senate member Kevin De León (D-Los Angeles), is that the low risk incurred by stop-loss insurers could mean higher rates for the rest of California.
“Here’s the problem,” De León said this week before the Assembly Committee on Health. “Any increase in stop-loss coverage insurance … could lead to a significant exodus of small employers … especially employers with young employees, leaving behind a smaller-group insurance pool subject to skyrocketing premiums.”
Basically, stop-loss coverage allows insurers to cherry-pick or adversely select the youngest and healthiest consumers with low rates, which makes rates rise for everyone else, De León said.
Health Reform Bills Move Through Committee
State Senator Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina) had a busy day. At Tuesday’s hearing of Assembly Committee on Health, Hernandez had seven different bills heard and approved — including two of the highest profile health care reform bills in California.
One of them, SB 951, would set the essential health benefits for California under the Affordable Care Act and the other, SB 961, would reform individual coverage in the state.
“Last week the Supreme Court appropriately said the ACA is here to stay,” Hernandez said, when introducing the latter bill. “This bill reforms the individual market … to improve access to health coverage in California.”
Bill Would Create Office of Oral Health
Dental providers are united in their intention to address the poor quality of dental care for California children, but are divided about the best way to do that.
Legislators at last week’s Assembly Committee on Health decided to put aside the disagreement and rancor over the best method to deal with the problem and voted unanimously to approve SB 694 by Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima).
The main component of the bill was never questioned in the health committee hearing — that is, to establish a statewide Office of Oral Health and to have a high-level director of that office. According to bill author Padilla, that new office taps no state funds.
Expanding Medicaid Called ‘Right Thing To Do’
The CEO of a trade group representing safety net health plans in 26 states hopes other states follow California’s example and make plans now to expand Medicaid.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling on the expansion of Medicaid is unlikely to materially affect the efforts of health plans in California since the state has indicated that it would participate in the expansion,” said Margaret Murray, CEO of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, which represents 59 non-profit safety net health plans in 26 states.
“We hope other states do likewise. Approving the expansion of coverage to working families with low incomes is the right thing to do,” she said. “Many of our plans in California have discussed the possibility of participating in the health insurance exchanges set forth in the Affordable Care Act, along with the Basic Health Program, should the state move forward with that option.”
State Officials Applaud Rulings, Add: ‘We Need To Be Ready’
California officials who said they’d push forward with health care reform no matter what the Supreme Court ruled are pushing today with much less resistance after the Affordable Care Act rulings announced yesterday.
Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), who chairs the Senate Health Committee, said he was “surprisingly excited. We can take a deep breath now that we don’t have to worry about Californians having access to health care.” He admits, however, there is much more that California needs to do before 2014.
“The ruling establishes a legal foundation for our vision,” said Hernandez’s counterpart in the Assembly, Bill Monning (D-Carmel), who chairs the Assembly Committee on Health and is a strong advocate of preventive care.
Health Programs Take a Hit in Legislature
The California Legislature yesterday passed two budget trailer bills calling for relatively rapid changes in California’s Healthy Families program.
Although many organizations and health advocates opposed the two bills, most Democratic legislators voted for them. The bills call for a four-phase, one-year transition of enrollees in the Healthy Families Program to Medi-Cal managed care plans. Children’s health advocates lobbied unsuccessfully for a slower transition.
The Healthy Families changes are part of the state’s plan to cut more than $1 billion from health related programs to pare down a $15.7 billion deficit.
Autism Task Force Bill Moves to Assembly Health Committee
State Sen. Elaine Alquist’s (D-Santa Clara) bill to establish a telehealth task force for autism passed the Assembly’s Human Services Committee yesterday with a unanimous vote. Both Republican committee members — Brian Jones (Santee) and Shannon Grove (Bakersfield) — abstained.
Having received bipartisan support in the Senate before reaching the Human Services Committee, the bill by the Santa Clara Democrat has now been double- referred to the Assembly Health Committee.
SB 1050 establishes a telehealth task force under the State Department of Developmental Services to develop evaluation and diagnostic procedures for autism and other autistic spectrum disorders. It is sponsored by The Children’s Partnership, a national nonprofit, non-partisan, child advocacy group with offices in Santa Monica and Washington, D.C.
CO-OP Program Moves Forward in Senate
California took a small step toward instituting a new type of health insurance plan in the state — a not-for-profit, member-governed plan dubbed the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan, or CO-OP.
The new bill was introduced to the Senate in last week’s Senate Committee on Health hearing. AB 1846 by Assembly member Rich Gordon (D-Menlo Park) would pave the way for California to apply for some of the $3.8 billion the federal government is planning to loan to states to start CO-OPs. So far, 12 states have started the process.
“It’s a new type of health insurance, intended to offer affordable, consumer- friendly coverage … in the individual and small group market,” Gordon said. “This bill streamlines the licensure process, and allows California to take part in this program, and tap federal dollars.”