Health Care Costs

Latest California Healthline Stories

More Money Could Go to Work Force Training, Report Says

The California Senate Office of Research released a report yesterday that looks at where federal funding for work force investment is going. And, apparently, it’s not to work force training.

“In California, most Local Workforce Investment Boards have reported investing little of their federal funds into work force training and instead have spent a substantial amount on other employment services,” the report stated.

There are hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to California each year under the federal Workforce Investment Act of 1998, according to the report. Most of that money is spent at the local level, in local investment boards.

Altered States: Paths to Reform Increasingly Diverge

Governors in Wisconsin, Alaska and Massachusetts are forging unique paths to custom fit health reform around their budget pressures and existing overhauls. The three states may serve as templates — or outliers — as the rubber starts to hit the road to reform.

What Does Obama’s Budget Hold for Health Reform?

President Obama’s proposed budget would ramp up federal spending on the health reform law in an effort to help carry out its provisions. The proposal has renewed GOP criticism that the White House is overextending the government’s role in health care and is pushing off hard choices on health costs.

Hope Raised by Patient-Centered Medical Home

Robert Reid thinks he has seen the future, and it comes from Washington.

Not D.C. — the state of Washington.

That’s where Reid of Seattle’s Group Health Research Institute has seen the patient-centered medical home in action, and that’s what he was preaching to medical leaders in Sacramento yesterday.

What You Missed While on Holiday Break

Washington, D.C., often goes quiet during the winter holiday season, but officials continued to pave the road to reform even as Congress was on break. Several agencies issued key guidance on implementing the federal health overhaul, and a number of new patient protections took effect last week.