Latest California Healthline Stories
New Tools To Stem Rising Prices
We asked stakeholders, researchers and consumer advocates to weigh in on new anti-inflationary tools such as payment limits for specific medical treatments and new rules for containing prescription drug spending.
High-Priced Drug Makes Its Way Into California Prisons
California Correctional Health Care Services, which oversees clinical care and prescriptions for 125,000 inmates at 34 prisons, last month began using the expensive hepatitis C drug Sovaldi. The treatment has sparked a congressional investigation and a debate over its price.
Can the ACA Solve Staggering Prescription Drug Prices?
Many Americans believe the ACA should act as a salve for all things that ail the nation’s health care system. In light of the ongoing debate over the high cost of Gilead’s new hepatitis C treatment, what is the law doing to hold down prescription drug prices?
Hearing Looks at High Cost of Medicine
Now that millions of Californians have been added to the insurance rolls through Covered California and the Medi-Cal expansion, one California legislator said the next step should be reducing overall medical care costs.
Ignore the Hype: Health Care’s ‘Cost Disease’ Hasn’t Been Cured.
Health care’s cost curve is finally bending, and no story may be more important. But the gains could be short-lived — the industry’s long-term “cost disease” is only in remission, says one of the nation’s most prominent economists.
Obamacare Payment Pilots Are Struggling To Prove They Work. Here’s Why It’s OK.
To slow health spending, the federal government, dozens of payers and thousands of providers are spending time — and money — on pilots that ultimately may not lead anywhere. And that’s OK, experts say.
How Can State Hasten Payment Reform?
California is ahead of the national payment reform curve, but even in the Golden State most reimbursement for care is still measured by volume, rather than quality. We asked stakeholders how California can move more quickly and efficiently to a value-based payment system.
UPS Among the First To Dump Spousal Coverage. It Won’t Be the Last.
UPS’ eye-catching announcement to exclude 15,000 spouses of employees from its health insurance plan is being blamed, in part, on the Affordable Care Act. Here’s a closer look at the decision, whether it will be a tipping point for other firms and the zero-sum game behind dropping spousal coverage.
The Employer Mandate Debate Doesn’t Matter. Here’s What Does.
Republicans’ latest gambit to fight Obamacare by attacking the employer mandate is getting national headlines. But the one-year delay for the mandate is one of the least-interesting things happening to employer-based health care.
How Much Should We Care About Obama’s Budget?
The president’s new budget contains a slew of health care reforms — but given the slender chance they become law, what are the real ramifications? Several experts weigh in.