Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Medicaid Contractions Inspire New State, National Opposition
Proposals to cut back Medicaid spending at the federal level and in California are galvanizing the opposition and inspiring dark predictions of physician flight and growing barriers to care for beneficiaries.
Debate Over Health Insurance Cancellations Brings Criticism, Suggestions From All Sides
Sen. Sheila Kuehl and officials from a consumer group, the Department of Managed Health Care and a health insurer trade group spoke with California Healthline about regulating health insurance policy cancellations.
Bill on Pricing Transparency Moves to Senate Health Committee
A proposal to ban “gag” clauses aims at making more pricing data public to improve price comparison shopping for individual consumers and large industrial buyers of health care. That said, Sutter Health defends the confidentiality agreements as standard practice.
State Partnerships for Long-term Care Policies Under Fire
California health officials defend the state’s public-private partnership that urges people to buy long-term care insurance, but consumer advocates caution consumers to examine such policies carefully before taking the plunge.
California Seeks Changes to Medicare Audit Program
CMS has piloted a Medicare audit program in California since 2005, but many California hospitals, nursing homes and now lawmakers say there are major problems in the program and are calling for it to be re-examined before it is rolled out nationwide.
L.A. County Works To Preserve Emergency Department Care After Hospital Closures
Bruce Chernof of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and Jim Lott of the Hospital Association of Southern California discussed the situation with California Healthline.
California Seeks Fines, Penalties Against Insurers for Claims Processing Violations
Cindy Ehnes, director of the Department of Managed Health Care, and Santiago Munoz of the UC Health System spoke with California Healthline about the state’s record fines against PacifiCare for alleged improper claims handling.
Budget Cuts Could Further Limit Provider Pool for Denti-Cal Enrollees, Groups Say
Liz Snow of the California Dental Association and Carmela Castellano-Garcia of the California Primary Care Association discussed the governor’s proposed changes in the dental program for low-income Californians.
Funding Crunch Could Stall Progress on Emergency Preparedness in California
Leigh Hall of the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, Mark Horton of the state Department of Public Health and Jeff Levi of the Trust for America’s Health spoke with California Healthline about funding for disaster preparedness.
Will Health Care Reform Come Down to Dueling Ballot Measures?
Recent history suggests that Californians might be faced with competing ballot initiatives aimed at reworking California’s health care system in November 2008, and a key backer of a single-payer health care system isn’t ruling out the possibility of seeking voter approval for such a system.