Insurance

Latest California Healthline Stories

State Lawmakers Tackle Public Smoking And Lead Poisoning, But Punt On Single-Payer

California lawmakers adopted a drug price transparency bill and several other key health care measures as their legislative session ended last week, but they pushed off decisions on some big-name proposals such as single-payer health care.

Podcast: ‘What The Health?’ Health Plans Busting Out All Over

In this episode of “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal discuss Democratic, Republican and bipartisan health proposals all being pursued in Congress, including the latest version of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) “Medicare-for-All” proposal. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists recommend their favorite health stories of the week.

Uninsured Rate In U.S. Falls To A Record Low Of 8.8%

In California, the rate of uninsurance was 7.3 percent in 2016, below the national figure and less than half of the Golden State’s 17.2 percent rate in 2013, the year before the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansion provisions took effect.

If You’re Blindsided By Health Plan Changes, Learn The Root Causes — And Your Rights

Insurers can reduce benefits or change cost sharing, but they are generally supposed to tell enrollees about the change beforehand. And although plans must tell patients when they are denied coverage, sometimes treatment is affected for other reasons.