Latest California Healthline Stories
How Much Risk Will $761 Million Pay For?
The state legislature passed two bills yesterday that establish a temporary high-risk insurance pool. California currently has a high-risk pool system that handles 7,100 patients across the state. The new legislation would corral $761 million in federal funds over the next four years to create a significantly larger program.
High-risk pools are designed to insure those who can’t get health insurance. But that “uninsurable” bar is pretty low, according to legislative advocate Elizabeth Lansberg of the Western Center on Law & Poverty.
“Being uninsurable is not hard to achieve,” Lansberg said. “There are many people who just have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. But if you’re over 45 and have a pre-existing condition, it can be nearly impossible to get coverage.”
San Diego Biotech Gets Boost From Reform Tax Credit
San Diego, a national hub for biotechnology, has seen a flurry of activity as companies prepare to apply for a new tax credit included the health care reform package that will provide $1 billion to small biotech and life sciences companies.
Out-of-State Physician Reviews Questioned
It’s relatively common practice for utilization reviews — that is, a request for medical services reviewed to comply with treatment guidelines — to be conducted by out-of-state physicians.
A new law, SB 933 by Senate member Paul Fong (D-Cupertino), would end that practice.
On Wednesday, the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee approved Fong’s bill. It is headed to the Senate floor for a vote … maybe. A policy review is under way to determine whether the bill should first go through the Appropriations Committee.
Close Vote, Heated Talk on Physician Employment in Assembly
Should hospitals or health districts be allowed to directly employ physicians? The charged issue crosses party lines, and the Assembly’s recent floor vote showed just how divided it is.
Booming Need for Senior Centers
Like all social services in California, senior centers are short of funding. They are struggling to maintain their current level of programs and services and on top of that they need to prepare for the huge wave of aging Baby Boomers about to hit senior centers across the state.
According to a report by the Congress of California Seniors released Tuesday to coincide with a legislative hearing on the subject, the state’s senior centers are in disrepair and ill-prepared to deal with the burgeoning number of Californians expected to join the senior ranks in the next decade.
“The demographic shift is so undeniable,” Assembly member Mariko Yamada (D-Davis) said. Yamada, chair of the Aging and Long-Term Care Committee oversight hearing Tuesday as well as a Boomer herself, said she’s been seeing the approach of what she calls the “silver tsunami” for years. She vows she and other seniors-to-be will work to get senior centers the infrastructure funding they need to survive and thrive.
Ombudsman Program on Life Support
“This program is going to run out of money this month.” That was the dire warning in a Senate Health Committee hearing Wednesday from Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), author of AB 2555, which would raise $1.6 million to finance California’s ombudsman program for at least one more year.
The program uses volunteers across the state to monitor long-term care facilities, handle patient complaints and advocate for long-term care patients.
“Residents are so dependent on the long-term care ombudsman,” said Jackie McGrath, director of public policy for the California Alzheimer’s Association. “Most are among the frailest of our citizens. Often the long-term ombudsman is their only advocate. We want to find a non-general fund solution for this year, so we can have time to design a long-term solution.”
Bill Aims to Limit Rate Hikes to One a Year
Beth Capell could barely contain her disbelief at the idea — that health plans and insurers suddenly might offer to lower their rates. And that they’d do that twice in one year.
“Not once in a blue moon,” she said.
Capell, policy advocate for Health Access California, was speaking at Wednesday’s Senate Health Committee hearing, presenting her side of what seemed like a relatively straightforward bill. AB 2042 (Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles) seeks to prevent health plans and insurers from raising rates more than once a year.
ARRA Projects Move Ahead for Health IT, Broadband
Although health care reform has moved into the national spotlight, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 continues to develop health care-related projects and grant programs. This update summarizes significant developments over the past few months.
Assembly OKs High Risk-Pool to Protect ‘Uninsurable’
The state Assembly passed AB 1887 (Mike Villines, R-Clovis) that establishes a temporary high-risk health insurance pool program in California.
It’s designed to cover patients with a pre-existing condition who have been rejected for coverage by a private health plan. It would insure high-risk patients here for the next four years, until the federal government sets up a permanent health care exchange in 2014.
The legislation complies with new federal health care reform law, and allows the state to tap into $761 million a year in federal funds. High-risk coverage is expected to reach about 30,000 people in California.
The Slippery Territory of Autism
A treatment for autism called applied behavioral analysis is basically helping those with autism develop new behavior with a system of rewards and consequences.
It’s generally known as one of the most successful forms of therapy available for autistic children. So if it has some success, why isn’t it always covered by private insurance?
That was the central question at a hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Autism and Related Disorders.